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

Saturday, 18 November 2017

BBC News

• Tesla shows off new truck and surprise RoadsterTesla shows off a long awaited truck, but surprises with its new Roadster sports car.
• Southern Rail disruption delays London's deputy mayor for transportDocuments show London's deputy mayor for transport avoids early meetings due to the rail operator's performance.
• London taxi and private hire cab sex attacks 'at 14-year high'The number of reported rapes and sexual offences against passengers reached 164 in 2016, figures show.
• Jaguar Land Rover tests driverless cars on public roadsThe UK's biggest car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover is testing driverless cars on public roads.
• HS2 contractor Carillion's shares hit by profit alertCarillion, the UK's second biggest construction firm, warns on profits for the third time in a year.

Financial Times

• Nissan chief to return part of salary following scandalSaikawa move triggered by report detailing decades of systematic rule breaking and cover-ups
• Network Rail to sell £1bn commercial property portfolioState-owned infrastructure group moves to shore up finances
• Tesla unleashes supercar from newly launched truckElon Musk says revamped Roadster will be ‘fastest production car ever made’

The Guardian

• Southeastern rail and contractor fined £3.6m over cleaner's deathFirms guilty of health and safety breaches after Roger Lower, 46, fell on to a live rail while cleaning a train at Sussex depotSoutheastern railway and its cleaning firm have been fined a total of £3.6m for the death of a cleaner who was electrocuted by a live rail. Roger Lower, 46, fell on to the 750-volt rail during a night shift cleaning trains at one of Southeastern’s Sussex depots, where equipment designed to protect workers was found not to be in use. Continue reading...

The Herald

• Four people die in mid-air collision between helicopter and aircraftPolice will this morning resume the hunt for clues following a collision between a helicopter and an aircraft which killed two pilots and two passengers over Buckinghamshire.
• Monarch takes fight for flight slots to appealADMINISTRATORS for failed airline Monarch are taking their fight over “valuableâ€� runway slots to the Court of Appeal.
• ANALYSIS: End of the line? Glasgow Airport may still get its surface linkIt was, said John Swinney, “desirable but not essentialâ€�. When the then finance secretary binned Glasgow’s Airport Rail Link eight years ago he felt he had saved the public purse a fortune.
• Targeting drivers in the Budget would be an act of ‘economic self-harm’, motoring campaigners warnMOTORING campaigners have urged the Government to freeze fuel duty and avoid punishing drivers of diesel vehicles in Wednesday’s Budget.
• Airport rail link would be ‘a poor use of public money’A FORMER Labour rail minister has backed the scrapping of the latest proposal for a Glasgow Airport rail link, describing the planned project as a “poor use of public moneyâ€�.

The Scotsman

• Virgin Trains offer signed Will Ferrell toilet seat as prizeVIRGIN Trains have launched a new competition where rail passengers can be in with a chance to win a toilet seat signed by Anchorman star Will Ferrell.

The Telegraph

• Argentine navy loses contact with submarine carrying 44

Times Online

• First-class flights are height of luxury (for £24,000) [Subscription]Premium air travel used to consist of little more than a comfy seat, a slightly more palatable meal and a regular top-up of your wine glass. Not any more.
• London buses full of beans with new biofuel [Subscription]Coffee grounds could be used to power London buses after the oil company Shell signed a deal to fund an inventor who dreamt up the idea at university.
• Four killed as aircraft and helicopter crash in mid‑air near Waddesdon Manor [Subscription]Four people were killed yesterday in a mid-air collision between a helicopter and an aircraft.
• Only three passengers use the quietest train station [Subscription]A Co Tipperary town has retained its record as the least-used train station on the country’s rail network.
• Carillion shares collapse after warning on profits [Subscription]Contractor expects to breach banking covenants
• Elon Musk unveils first electric lorry [Subscription]Tesla has unveiled its first electric lorry, claiming that the semi-autonomous vehicle will make diesels obsolete.
• Southern Rail strikes derail Transport chief Val Shawcross’s day [Subscription]London’s deputy mayor for transport cannot schedule any early morning meetings because she relies on the strike-ridden Southern Rail service.
• Labour ignored pollution alert in dash for diesel [Subscription]Tony Blair’s government ignored health warnings over air pollution as it pushed ahead with tax changes that led to a fourfold increase in the number of diesel vehicles on Britain’s roads, confidential Treasury files released yesterday show.

Mail Online

• Strike threat to Virgin West Coast line Rail workers on Virgin Trains’ West Coast route have voted by nine to one to go on strike in a dispute over pay. The West Coast franchise covers services from London Euston to Glasgow.
• Car tax goes online as number of licence cheats trebles The Government claimed it would save £10million a year by reducing tax evasion and cutting costs when it replaced paper discs with an online system in October 2014.
• Russia to go to the moon in new £30m spaceship Russia expects to launch the Luna-25 in 2020. The lunar orbiter will explore the its south pole and collect soil samples to be sent back to earth for analysis.
• Tanzania plane crash: Eleven dead, including Americans Two Americans, two Germans, six Tanzanians, and a South African pilot were all killed when their Cessna aircraft crashed in Ngorongoro National Park, in Tanzania, on Wednesday.
• Top scientists close to creating huge 'hover vehicle'  Amazing footage shows the progress a team of scientists have made in creating a huge 'hover vehicle' that travels across the surface, paving the way for a Back To The Future like flying car.

The Mirror

• British Airways passenger endured "10 hours of hell" when speaker made loud noise during Las Vegas flight Nicole Lightbody, 26, says she was stunned when British Airways offered her just £20 in compensation for the trip from London Heathrow to Las Vegas

Birmingham Mail

• Call to freeze fuel duty and avoid punishing diesel motorists ahead of Budget There has been growing speculation that Chancellor Philip Hammond will increase taxes on new diesel cars

Birmingham Post

• Jaguar Land Rover tests driverless vehicles on public roads Luxury car manufacturer has taken to city centre streets for trials among everyday traffic

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Train company's workers to be balloted over sick pay offer A RAIL union will ballot its members from Virgin East Coast over the company's proposals to impose a pay offer that had previously been rejected by the workforce.
• Council issues written warning after minicab firm appears to boast about driver's illegal manoeuvre A MINICAB firm has been given a formal warning after appearing to laugh off concerns about an illegal manoeuvre performed by one of its drivers.

Holyrood

• RAC calls for DVLA to set up website for drivers to check car emissions

London Evening Standard

• District Line delays: London tube commuters stranded for up to 40 minutes after person taken ill on a trainCommuters travelling on the District Line faced severe delays on Friday due to signal failures and a ​passenger being taken ill.
• Bond Street station unveils new look entrance after £300m revamp Bond Street station has opened its new entrance and ticket hall following a £300 million revamp.
• 'Tube crush' website featuring photos of 'attractive' men on London Underground sparks privacy rowA "Tube crush" website where passengers secretly capture and rate photos of men they find "attractive" while riding the London Underground has sparked a privacy row.

Manchester Evening News

• Unions accuse Arriva of treating drivers with 'contempt' as pay row leads to NINE more strike daysThe GMB union claim the company showed ‘utter contempt’ for workers by offering just an extra 1p an hour than their previous one

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Virgin East Coast to launch a half price 'Beat Black Friday' ticket saleA huge 300,000 seats will be up for grabs with bargains including a one way First Class ticket to London for just £33.50

The York Press

• Minister's pledge on new trainsTHE York depot refurbishing trains for the TransPennine Express welcomed transport secretary Chris Grayling yesterday.

Bucks Free Press

• REVEALED: Car parks rake in £270,000 in 6 months – after failed ANPR system scrapped More than £270,000 has been raked in from car parking by Wycombe District Council since April, it has been revealed.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Commuters spend an average of 27 days a year getting to and from work, study revealsRail commuters are spending over two hours getting to and from work every day as travel times increase for Britain’s workers, a new study has revealed.

Reading Evening Post

• Plans for cycle lane between Newbury and Reading given the go ahead The £1.1 million plans will see new  lanes and wider pavements for cyclists and pedestrians installed

Other Regional Press

• Traffic fears as 6 months' work lined up for Mannington roundabout DRIVERS are being warned to brace themselves for at least six months of roadworks at a busy Swindon roundabout.
• The Queen will visit Portsmouth to celebrate the launch of a new shipThe Queen will formally commission Britain's biggest and most powerful warship into the Royal Navy next month when she embarks on to her aircraft carrier namesake, the Defence Secretary has announced.
• Drivers facing 14 months of roadworks misery in £5.2million electricity project HAMPSHIRE residents are set to face 14 months of roads misery and traffic disruption during a £5.2m project aimed at upgrading electricity cables.
• 'We need to get people off the streets if they are going to survive the winter': The Bus Shelter Dorset FINALLY has a proposed place to park A bus transformed into a shelter for homeless people in Weymouth finally has a proposed location.
• Petition launched following road safety concerns at Park Hill Primary School Councillors are leading calls to improve road safety at the school, on Lower Eastern Green Lane

Buying Business Travel

• Easyjet introduces new baggage policyPassengers allowed 15kg or 23kg

Rail Technology Magazine

• Khan urges national fare freeze as TfL tickets to stay the same in 2018Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has today confirmed that fares set by TfL will once again be frozen in 2018 and questioned the government’s failure to follow suit in this policy. The policy means that every passenger buying tram tickets or making pay-as-you-go journeys on the Tube, DLR...
• Bond Street £300m revamp unveiled ahead of Elizabeth Line link next yearMajor refurbishment and connection works at London’s Bond Street station have been completed. TfL announced the completion of the revamp today, including a 30% increase in capacity necessary for the future connection with the Elizabeth Line. The work involved the construction of a new...
• Network Rail announces major sell-off of entire commercial portfolioNetwork Rail will seek a major cash boost through the sale of its commercial property portfolio in England and Wales, announced today. The infrastructure manager is looking for private bidders on a mostly leaseholder basis while retaining the freeholds, meaning it can retain control of access to...

Green Miscellany

• School threatens to impound bicycles used by pupils without helmetsWe have a new entry to our Cycling Hall of Shame. Only a matter of few weeks since we reported on a school in London that required its pupils to secure written permission from the head teacher before they cycle to school, comes news the news from one particular school in Banstead that they require kids to display a number… The post School threatens to impound bicycles used by pupils without helmets appeared first on ETA.
• Fuel cell electric bicyclesWhat if you could take the most effective way of fuelling an electric motor and combine it with the world’s most efficient vehicle? The result would be a fuel cell electric-assist bicycle. The Alpha can be refilled with hydrogen in only two minutes – enough to deliver a range of 100 km on a single charge. Whereas battery-powered pedelecs are adversely… The post Fuel cell electric bicycles appeared first on ETA.