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

Monday, 09 April 2018

Department for Transport

• Government puts consumers at heart of the aviation industryNext steps to make UK aviation a world leader.

Financial Times

• French rail strikes boost map and carpool appsWaze, BlaBlaCar, Uber and Chauffeur Privé all reported soaring user numbers this week

The Guardian

• Fears parts of world longest sea bridge are floating away Chinese project to build 55km bridge spirals in row with Hong Kong, with mainland officials insisting parts of structure were designed to sinkAuthorities overseeing construction of the world’s longest sea bridge are working to allay concerns that parts of the massive structure are starting to drift away in the sea.Construction of the 55km bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China involves the building of artificial islands, new roads, and an undersea tunnel. Photos taken earlier this month showed a jagged shoreline around one of the islands as wave-absorbing concrete blocks appea...

The Telegraph

• Hospital staff paying £80 a week in car parking charges

City AM

• Department for Transport defends decision to allow more European firms to compete for UK rail franchisesThe government is set to spark a fresh furore after granting bidding rights for UK rail franchises to three EU firms.

Daily Express

• Fury at foreign grab for UK rail network under new franchising rulesBRITAIN’S rail passengers will continue to “subsidise” foreign commuters under new franchising rules, critics claimed yesterday. They hit out after learning that the Department for Transport has cleared three more overseas firms to bid for rail franchises.

Mail Online

• Heathrow and Gatwick earn £75million each year after charging sky-high rates for foreign currency  Heathrow and Gatwick alone earn close to £75million a year from the rents they charge to bureaux de change in their terminals.

Birmingham Mail

• Birmingham's 'worst pothole-hit road which has not been repaired for two years'Residents say Reservoir Road in Selly Oak is one of Birmingham's most cracked and potholed

London Evening Standard

• Tube passengers air their biggest gripes including not taking your backpack off and annoyingly leaning against the poleLondoners have aired their biggest gripes about the Tube, including people not taking their backpacks off, and leaning against the pole in the middle of carriages.

Manchester Evening News

• New clampdown on tram thugs with CCTV monitored 24-hours a day so that officers are 'always watching'Plans for extra patrols on the Oldham and Rochale line where incidents have occurred

The York Press

• Boost for bike library schemeA CAR leasing firm has smashed its target for collecting unwanted bicycles

Yorkshire Post

• Is £300m Yorkshire HS2 parkway station about to hit the buffers?The government is set to spark a fresh furore after granting bidding rights for UK rail franchises to three EU firms.

North Wales Live

• All change at the top of some of Merseyside's biggest employers New bosses at firms from Shop Direct to Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Other Regional Press

• Why Norwich needs a second railway stationIn recent years a number of cities have built new rail stations on their outskirts, either to provide a convenient park-and-ride access to mainline services or to help commuters and others reach business parks.
• Oxford buses will turn up less often as traffic chaos forces change to timetables Passengers are being reminded that the frequency of buses running through Oxford is to be reduced to cope with congestion.
• Traffic ban ruled out despite 'chaos' and serious collisions at schoolsSCORES of children have been injured due to road ‘chaos’ at Oxfordshire primary schools, but a councillor said this does not warrant peak-time traffic bans.
• Cornmarket 'will suffer' if buses are allowed to returnTRADERS in Cornmarket Street will suffer if buses return, a retail expert has warned.

Rail Magazine

• 7,187 new coaches by 2021 - but up to 3,934 for scrap...some only three years oldAlmost 4,000 currently serviceable vehicles will be withdrawn when their lease ends within the next three years.

Other News Sources

• Rail 848: The scams that cost the railway dearOne of the great mysteries of the current structure of the railways is why does every piece of work, whether undertaken by train operators, Network Rail or the engineering companies cost so much. Network Rail quotes for schemes are sometimes a factor of ten more than might be expected and even the most minor routine job seems to be far higher than comparable work in other industries.
• MP backs case to replace flat crossingThe MP for Newark, Mr Robert Jenrick, has thrown his weight behind aspirational plans to replace the last railway flat crossing of its kind in Britain with a flyover.
• Trams offer superior city transport – why doesn't the UK have more?Edinburgh's tram network has made a profit two years earlier than planned – despite initial delays and overspends – but don't expect them to appear in every city
• Four stories that show how potholes are wreaking havoc across Surrey One woman says she's been left shaken and isolated without her car after it was written off