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

Monday, 08 August 2016

BBC News

• Serious Fraud Office opens Airbus corruption investigationThe UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launches an investigation into allegations of
• Southern rail strike: Five-day walkout beginsCommuters across London and the South East face travel chaos as a five-day strike begins on the Southern rail network in a long-running row over the role of conductors.

Financial Times

• Airbus faces SFO corruption inquiryCriminal investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption in passenger jet business
• Southern Rail strike looms after talks failConductors set to walk out from early hours of Monday

The Guardian

• Why Uber has been taken for a ride in China | John NaughtonUber’s capitulation to its Chinese rival last week should temper the wishful thinking of Brexit cheerleadersThe big news last week was that Uber, the California-based ride-hailing company, threw in the towel in China. It announced that its Chinese rival, Didi Chuxing, would acquire all of the assets of UberChina – including its brand, business operations and data. In return, Uber gets a stake in Didi Chuxing worth £5.3bn.Why is this significant? How long have you got? In the first place it confirms that the plans for world domination cherished by all the US-based tech giants come to a judderin...
• Superhighway to cycling heaven – or just a hell of a mess?As London’s network of cycle lanes takes shape, we ask whether Boris Johnson’s transport revolution was blue-lane thinking or a convoluted mistakeThey are “doing more damage to London,” said the former chancellor Lord Lawson in the House of Lords, “than almost anything since the Blitz.” In the same spirit of absurdist hyperbole, they might be said to be the most transformative public works since Joseph Bazalgette built London’s sewers and river embankments. They are not, but they do have the potential to change the spirit and character of the capital and of other cities that follow the same pa...
• Passenger dies in incident on Gatwick Express trainPerson with head injury pronounced dead after being hit by train while leaning out of window at Wandsworth Common stationA man has died after leaning out of a train window and being hit by another passing train, it is understood. The Gatwick Express passenger was pronounced dead at the scene after the incident at Wandsworth Common station.A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 5.34pm to reports of an incident at Wandsworth Common railway station. We sent an ambulance crew, a single responder and a car and an incident response officer to the scene alongside an air a...
• Southern rail passengers face week of disruption because of RMT strikeUnion accuses government of sabotaging talks on eve of five-day walkout that will hit hundreds of thousands of commutersHundreds of thousands of rail passengers face a week of travel disruption because of a five-day strike in an escalating dispute over the role of conductors.The walkout by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Southern rail begins on Monday following the collapse of talks aimed at resolving the long-running row. Continue reading...
• Heathrow expansion: say goodbye to emissions targets and budget flyingThe only way the UK could have another runway without breaking climate change laws would be to increase prices
• Build a better HS3 now to rebalance economy and boost north, says IPPRThinktank calls for more ambitious railway to connect major northern cities and put country on a par with other advanced economies
• Southern trains crisis: seven factors that threw services off the railsAs five days of strikes get under way, promising more misery for longsuffering passengers, here’s why the crisis reached this point
• Third Heathrow runway would push up air fares, say campaignersA report published by the Campaign for Better Transport claims that carbon pricing, a measure the commission suggested could be needed to ensure British aviation emissions remain on target, would add hundreds of pounds to air fares by 2050, spelling the end of low-cost flights

The Telegraph

• Southern Rail passengers face chaos - as ministers attack union leaders over longest strike for 50 years
• Southern rail strike: Travel misery for commuters as five-day walkout begins

Times Online

• Rail strike brings chaos for workers and holidaymakers [Subscription]Hundreds of thousands of commuters and holidaymakers face five days of travel chaos as conductors begin the longest rail strike in almost 50 years.
• Security at small ports ‘our biggest new threat’ [Subscription]The head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned that security at small ports is the “greatest emerging threat” to Britain.
• Migrant centre in path of runway [Subscription]The largest immigration detention centre in Europe would have to be demolished and a new centre built elsewhere if ministers approve a third runway at Heathrow.

Mail Online

• Southern Rail commuters face the longest strike in 50 years starting today� More than 120,000 commuters into London were facing travel 'carnage' this morning as a Southern rail strike designed to have 'maximum impact' on passengers begins.

The Mirror

• Travel misery as 1 in 4 flights to and from country hit by delays Gatwick and Manchester airports were bottom of the league for long-haul flights

Conservative Party

• Francis Maude: Cheaper, quicker, simpler, less noisy – and politically acceptable. Why the new Government should take up Heathrow Hub.Congratulations on your appointment as Transport Secretary. I remember sitting round the Shadow Cabinet table with you when you held this brief in opposition; and know how passionate you are about modernising our infrastructure And I was delighted to hear that you are keen to press ahead at speed.

Edinburgh Evening News

• East coast rail passengers hit with second fares hike this yearVirgin Trains East Coast (Vtec)has been accused of “bleeding the travelling public dry” for hiking fares for the second time this year.
• First speeding tickets issued in new 20mph zones Police have issued the first ever speeding tickets to drivers flouting Edinburgh’s new 20mph rules – to motorists who were travelling at exactly 30mph.

London Evening Standard

• London buses are getting slower and less reliable each year, costing TFL millions in faresIncreasingly slow and unreliable London buses are costing Transport for London millions as commuters ditch them in favour of other transport.
• Southern rail strike: Five-day walkout set to cause chaos for hundreds of thousands of commutersHundreds of thousands of rail passengers face a week of travel chaos as a five-day strike cripples major rail routes into London.
• Toxic air warnings to be displayed at Tube stations and bus stops during pollution peaksToxic air warnings will be displayed at hundreds of Tube stations and bus stops during pollution peaks in London.

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Rail link between northern cities should 'take priority' over HS2 plan, think-tank saysThe Institute for Public Policy Research has called on the Transport Secretary to shift resources from London to the North

Wales Online

• Concerns over extra traffic around residential streets after city road bridge closes Beresford Road bridge in Splott has shut to allow the electrification of the mainline to London

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Government urged to prioritise North’s HS3 ahead of HS2 schemeConstruction of the HS3 rail line between northern cities should take priority over the controversial HS2 high-speed link from London to the Midlands, as part of a North First strategy for transport spending, a thinktank has said.

Yorkshire Post

• The last bus: Dales folk who can’t even get to Bradford and back on the same day AS little as three years ago Carleton near Skipton enjoyed buses running to town into the early evening and even at weekends.
• Councils spend £100m to make one in three Yorkshire bus trips free Nearly a third of all bus journeys taken in Yorkshire are free concessions at a cost of £100m to the public purse, an investigation by The Yorkshire Post has revealed.
• YP Comment: Fair bus concession for the elderly THE revelations that nearly a third of all bus journeys taken in Yorkshire are free concessions and cost the taxpayer £100m, will no doubt raise a few eyebrows. In North Yorkshire the figure is even higher with these concessionary fares for the elderly and disabled accounting for nearly half of all journeys.

North Wales Live

• Mersey haulage firm Abbey Logistics undergoes multi-million pound management buyout Chief executive Steve Granite leads buyout of Bootle firm allowing an exit for the founding Lucy family

Sunderland Echo

• 13 things you said about Nissan chief executive comments on Sunderland plantReaders have been having their say about comments from car giant Nissan’s chief executive about the firm’s future plans following Brexit.

Other Regional Press

• 'Scrap bus lane and put electronic system on toll bridge to cut jams' says councillor CALLS have been made for a 'smart card' system at the Swinford Toll Bridge to be included in major improvements to cut daily traffic jams.
• Stagecoach claim ‘fragile economy’ to blame for bus cutsAndrew Jarvis, Stagecoach East Scotland’s managing director, said a “weak retail environment,” is also to blame for changes to bus services in communities across Perthshire, Fife and Clackmannanshire.
• Transport consultants suggest 'ideal location' for second Cambridge bus station Transport bosses believe they have found “the ideal location" for a new Cambridge bus station to take the heat off Drummer Street.
• West Berkshire bus pass subsidy cut means cross border changes for pensionersBoth West Berkshire and Reading pensioners lose out in the changes to bus pass concessions resulting from a subsidy cut by West Berkshire Council
• Wirral bus driver named UK's most eco-friendlyA WIRRAL bus driver has been named the UK’s most eco-friendly driver, beating thousands to win the award.
• Nearly half of drivers admit texting at the wheelMore than 40 per cent of UK drivers admit to sending or reading text messages while driving, according to a new survey by road safety charity Brake.

Campaign for Better Transport

• New runway would add hundreds of pounds to holidays in extra carbon costs, say campaignersA new runway at Heathrow or Gatwick could spell the end of budget flights from the UK’s airports, because of charges that would have to be added to meet the UK’s legally binding climate change limits, according to a report published today by the Campaign for Better Transport.

Rail Magazine

• Network Rail tests ETCS on Class 700 on 'Core' Thameslink route Trial of ETCS Level 2 signalling between St Pancras and Blackfriars with a Class 700 electric multiple unit has taken place.

Railway Gazette

• Indian delegation inspects Great Western electrification projectINDIA: As part of a visit to the UK, a delegation from India’s Ministry of Railways asked to see...
• Rail freight news in briefOn August 3 Pershing Square Capital Management announced the commencement of a public offering for...

Aviation Industry

• American Airlines and ground workers union agree to interim wage hikeAmerican Airlines and the TWU-IAM Association (an alliance of the Transportation Workers Union and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers), announced Aug. 5 that they have reached an interim agreement to raise wages. read more

Other News Sources

• Downs Link dedicated cycle route to Guildford proposed For years residents and councillors have attempted to utilize the potential of the old rail line that once connected Guildford to Horsham
• More than 400 pedestrians hurt in road accidents in Surrey last year Data shows that 434 pedestrians were injured and 10 died in road accidents in Surrey last year
• Airport Expansion Means Expensive FlightsIt's claimed airport expansion in the south east of England could make flights more expensive.
• Rail passengers waking up to week of strike chaos RAIL passengers are waking up this morning to a week of transport chaos as the five-day rail strike begins.