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

Monday, 16 January 2017

BBC News

• How BlaBlaCar created a global transport networkA rail strike is a strange time to realise that your start-up is going to be a success but that was the moment that the founders of BlaBlaCar knew that their company was going to take off.
• The commuters who enjoy being creative with their timeThe average UK commuter spends nearly an hour a day travelling - and 3.7 million are en route for more than two hours, with the longest journey times spent on trains.
• Swansea-Shrewsbury Heart of Wales Line walking route planPlans for a new long-distance walking route from south Wales to Shropshire following the Heart of Wales rail line is unveiled.
• Strike-hit Govia Thameslink seeks Southern train driversStrike-hit Govia Thameslink renews a recruitment campaign to hire trainee drivers in a bid to reduce Southern rail disruption.

Financial Times

• Djibouti-Ethiopia railway lifts Africa trade hopesAddis Ababa line to the sea hailed as first step in tapping vast commercial potential
• Driverless cars heading for a jam, says transit groupPromotion of private vehicles over buses and trains expected to make congestion worse

The Guardian

• Virgin season ticket means I can reserve a seat, so why am I forced to stand?I pay almost £8,000 a year and don’t understand how a train operator can be so incompetentI hold an annual rail season ticket from Spalding to London (via Peterborough) with Virgin Trains East Coast. Last year this cost £7,816, excluding underground travel. In theory, season ticket holders can reserve seats up to 12 weeks in advance, for which they fill in a spreadsheet and send to Virgin. However, this department appears to be only available via email. It is supposed to respond to requests within seven days, but sometimes I’ve had to chase it for up to a month. When someone responds, they sim...
• Unions and tube chiefs to hold talks aimed at averting further strikesRMT and TSSA officials will meet London Underground as part of efforts to resolve row over job cuts and ticket office closuresTalks aimed at averting further London Underground strikes in a continuing dispute over job losses and ticket office closures are to be held.Officials from the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and Transport Salaried Staffs Association will meet LU through conciliation service Acas on Monday.

Reuters News

• Mind the closing doors - echoes of Thatcher in railway battle leftright 3/3leftrightRona Jeff loved her job as a PR consultant for an education charity in central London. But last month she quit. Her train commute had become so unbearable it was ruining her health.

City AM

• End of the (railway) line? The Canadian pension giants that own HS1 have brought in Bank of America to explore a £3.6bn potential saleThe two Canadian pension giants that own the high-speed railway connecting London to the Channel Tunnel have appointed a US investment bank to explore a sale of the line.

Mail Online

• Fifty Tory MPs demand tougher strike laws amid fury over action crippling Southern Rail... but union boss says it would just BREAK them A union boss has warned that his members will just flout strike laws if they are toughened in a bid to prevent arepeat of the misery endured by Southern Rail passengers.
• Militant rail union fights new trains that might have saved girl, 16, who died after falling into gap between carriage and platform� Georgia Varley (pictured) fell between a train and the platform at Liverpool's James Street station. Rail bosses claim that new trains, with no guard, could help prevent a similar tragedy.

Conservative Party

• Keith Prince: Mayor Khan’s failings are thwarting prospects for rail devolutionKeith Prince is a member of the London Assembly.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Calls for urgent road safety measures on A487 in Gwynedd A councillor wants a crossing to be installed at a busy junction in Penrhyndeudraeth where two children were involved in accidents
• Gwynedd taxi drivers left 'too scared' to drive over medical certificate fears Caernarfon taxi firm boss says licensed drivers are afraid of being suspended over expired medical documents despite having a valid licence

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• North East's road network a 'backwater' in terms of Goverment investment, MPs sayNorth East MPs are backing ChronicleLive's calls for better investment on the A19

Wales Online

• Here's how much the new DVLA car tax rules will cost youSome car models will cost significantly more to tax each year
• This is the plan to double the amount of cyclists using Cardiff's roads The city council have drawn up a new strategy to boost numbers of people who use their bikes

Other Regional Press

• Drawing reveals new details of Toton HS2 station plansThe Government has released a new image showing an artist’s impression of what the proposed HS2 East Midlands hub at Toton will look like.
• MP Cheryl Gillan to HS2 Ltd: 'Take only the land you need'MP for Chesham and Amersham Cheryl Gillan has called on HS2 Ltd to amend legislation so that they can't make compulsory purchaes of land for regeneration or development.
• Child car seats: The law is changing again - this is what you need to knowNew stricter rules are coming into force in 2017 limiting the use of backless booster seats for older children.
• Look: Are these the worst Coventry cars ever made? The city has produced some amazing vehicles, but it has also produced some turkeys too

Transportxtra

• Grayling challenged over "less than £1 per head" for cycling after he downgrades bike use

Aviation Industry

• Government misses opportunity to reduce night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick or StanstedThe Government has published its proposals�for changes to the night flights regime for Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, the only three airports in the UK at which the Government imposes noise controls. The Government sets caps on the number of aircraft …

Other News Sources

• Balfour Beatty Vinci has appointed Mark Cutler managing director of its HS2 joint venture.Mark Cutler takes over from Peter Anderson who has left Balfour Beatty to join Murphy.
• Design of zig zag footpath at Winchester Train Station criticised Liberal Democrat city councillors have slammed the poor design of the intended path through the new car park at Winchester Train Station
• Southern Railway recruitment campaign branded 'nonsense' by drivers' union Plans to recruit a pool of 200