Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

BBC News

• Chiltern Railways admits Oxford-to-London line problemsA rail company has admitted its service on a new £320m rail line linking Oxford and London is "not up to standard", weeks after it opened.
• Rail services resume after floodingTrain services disrupted in mid and north Wales due to flooding and poor weather conditions resume.
• Big Society fear over Powerhouse planThe Northern Powerhouse is

Financial Times

• Canadian railroad mergers back on trackAfter being spurned by CSX, Canadian Pacific turns to Norfolk Southern
• EasyJet looks to AI to cut delaysBudget airline brings in head of data science to crunch numbers on aircraft repairs and food bill

The Guardian

• Glasgow could get greener by reclaiming its motorwaysTwo ambitious developments could see Glasgow’s uncompromising urban motorways becoming a little greener: a public park spanning the chasm created by the M8 at Sauchiehall Street and a new skate park under the M74 Glasgow’s historic centre has been ringed for decades by motorways which carve through the city. But now they could be slowly reclaimed for residents, with plans to span one with an urban park and decorate a second with a “world class” skate park.Plans are now underway to roof over the gulley for the M8 which slices past the Mitchell library and Garnethill, and only a short distance t...
• Uber: why the world’s biggest ride-sharing company has no driversUber’s carefully constructed public policy is designed to skirt regulations – so the person behind the wheel of your car is a ‘partner’ or even a ‘customer’At the beginning of last summer, Uber had about 80,000 regular drivers in the US. By the end of the season, it had none. The ride-sharing company had decided to call them “driver-partners” instead.Driver-partners, according to an upbeat paper written by Uber’s head of economic research in January, are workers who choose to provide car rides using the Uber platform. What they definitely aren’t, the company claims, are Uber employees. Contin...

The Herald

• UK to double spending on aviation security to counter terror threatSPENDING on aviation security will double over the next five years as the UK counters the threat from Islamist terrorism.
• MPs begin emissions testing probe after VW scandalMPs have launched an inquiry into the testing of new road vehicles following the diesel emissions scandal.

The Telegraph

• Double decker trains are designed to help ease overcrowdingThe trains could be introduced on British railways within years as designers work on new model

Times Online

• Double-decker trains to ease overcrowding on busy linesDouble-decker trains could be introduced on some of the UK’s busiest railway lines under new proposals to ease overcrowding.
• Rail push to make Christmas upgrade run on time [Subscription]More than 20,000 engineers will work on Britain’s railways over Christmas, hoping to prevent a repeat of the chaotic scenes when upgrades overran 12 months ago.

City AM

• Andreas Vogler's AeroLiner3000: Here's the UK's (double decker) train of the futureForget standing nose-to-armpit with your fellow commuters as your carriage wends its cautious way through the British countryside: in the future we could all be travelling in high speed comfort, on this double-decker bullet train.

Mail Online

• Train with two decks 'will ease crowded commutes': Train with two decks 'will ease crowded commutes': Plans for new stock that will overcome low tunnels and narrow rails reaches final of design competition

London Evening Standard

• Labour calls for an extra �500m for 16-year Euston station revampUP to �500 million of public funding should be invested into redeveloping the Euston station area as a new high-speed rail terminal is built, Labour urged today.
• Oxford Circus shut: Commuter chaos in central London after armed police storm trainWeary commuters faced mayhem across central London after armed police stormed Warren Street during rush hour.
• Frenchman who 'entered Gatwick Airport with an air rifle and a knife' remanded in custodyA Frenchman accused of entering Gatwick Airport with an air rifle and a knife has been remanded in custody.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Northern Powerhouse: Counties could miss out as Whitehall devolution centres on North citiesIPPR North says counties need different model to cities as Durham announces residents will get a vote on pan-North East devo

The York Press

• A1 bridge demolished as part of �380 million motorway project A BRIDGE on the A1 in North Yorkshire has been demolished as part of a �380 million Highways England project to upgrade the dual carriageway to a three lane motorway.

East Anglian Daily Times

• More misery for rail passengers heading to Sudbury and FelixstowePassengers hoping to catch trains to or from Felixstowe and Sudbury are facing another week of misery with buses replacing trains yet again.

Get West London

• Londoners back Gatwick expansion over Heathrow, survey findsA second runway at Gatwick was found to be the preferred option by 44% of those questioned, compared with 33% for Heathrow

Peterborough Telegraph

• Call for investment in ‘decrepit’ rail rolling stockRail campaigners have called for investment in trains that are “fit for this century” after figures showed Britain’s rolling stock is at its oldest in 14 years.

Other Regional Press

• Revealed: The slowest rush-hour commuter roads on TeessideKey routes including Acklam Road and Marton Road in Middlesbrough are among the slowest on Teesside, figures show
• Kent's motorways closed for almost 1,000 hours - figures reveal county's summer of travel miseryKent's motorways were shut for almost 1,000 hours over a summer of travel misery, as it's revealed costly traffic-cutting measures are NOT being used.

Rail Magazine

• DB delivers record mail train improvementsDB Schenker claims a record improvement in operational performance with 96.3% of mail trains arriving at their destination within ten minutes of the schedule.

Rail Technology Magazine

• French operator probes presence of children onboard derailed TGV train French rail company SNCF has reported that children were present in the high-speed TGV train that derailed during a test run on Saturday.

Railnews

• Suspected vandalism disrupts West Midlands trains Two fires alongside a railway in the West Midlands have caused serious disruption, after signal cables were damaged. Network Rail says the incidents appear to have been caused by vandalism. The fires, at Canley, have resulted in delays on the main line through Coventry, and there are also no trains running between there and Leamington Spa.
• Construction costs of HS2 are 'set to rise' HS2 Ltd is refusing to comment on claims that the cost of the High Speed project is set to rise from �50 billion to �70 billion or more. A report in the Independent claims that the earlier cost was calculated at 2011 values, and that the apparent rise is partly due to the fall in the value of 'real' money in the years ahead. The speculation comes less than two weeks before the government's Spending Review, but although the Chancellor George Osborne has already announced departmental economies, he has also pledged that major transport projects will not be affected.
• Mystery presence of children on crashed TGV test French accident inspectors are investigating why several children were on board a test TGV which crashed near Strasbourg on Saturday, killing 11 people and injuring 30 more. It is not known if any of the children were among the fatalities. SNCF president Guillaume Pepy said

Railway Gazette

• Cross-border train ready to live longer and prosperEUROPE: Translink NI Railways is undertaking a major refurbishment of the three locomotive-hauled...

Aviation Industry

• Ryanair Holdings plc Upgraded to Strong-Buy by Vetr Inc.The firm presently has a $90.63 price target on the stock. Vetr 's target price suggests a potential upside of 12.71% from the stock's previous close.
• Discount fliers raising baggage costs for holidaysDuring the holidays, planes are packed, flights are prone to weather delays, and the price of tickets to get to Grandmother's for turkey and all the trimmings is higher. Now, two airlines, Spirit and Frontier, are planning higher baggage fees for flights this holiday season, as well as at other peak travel times, such as spring break and summer vacation.
• Bombardier and NetJets(R) Mark Major Milestone as Challenger 650...Bombardier and NetJets Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company and a worldwide leader in private aviation, today celebrated the imminent entry-into-service of the new Challenger 650 aircraft. The aircraft will be on static display throughout the 2015 National Business Aviation Association conference and exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Royal Jordanian moves into profit for first nine monthsRoyal Jordanian has turned in considerably improved figures for the first nine months of its financial year, moving into profit despite the proximity of major conflicts. read more
• Finnair studies future narrowbody fleetFinnair is planning to increase traffic on its European feeder network with an eye on growing long-haul capacity. read more

Other News Sources

• Train fire leads to rail delays between Redhill and Guildford All lines have reopened but operator Great Western Railway warned delays would continue into Monday afternoon
• South West Trains provide 800 more spaces for Guildford to London Waterloo passengersRush hour services will be provided with two extra carriages as the government begins public consultation into the South Western franchise
• FTA says new strategy for motoring agencies must improve serviceThe Freight Transport Association (FTA) says the Government’s consultation on a new strategy for its three motoring agencies is a positive step ...
• Unilever and Tesla identified as faces of sustainable business ahead of Paris Consumer goods firm Unilever and Elon Musk's Tesla have been identified by global sustainability experts as having made the biggest contribution to climate solutions over the past five years.
• MP promises to listen to 'noise ghetto' worries over Gatwick THE Government is listening to the concerns of residents blighted by Gatwick aircraft noise, according to the Aviation Minister.
• Boost for northern transport bodyPlans to enshrine regional transport bodies in law have been published in Parliament. The government wants to give bodies such as Transport for the North – which is made up of representatives from local authorities across the region – the power to advise ministers on relevant spending in their area.