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

Friday, 30 October 2026

BBC News

• Chancellor's £30m pledge for train station is insult to the people of Wales, minister saysA £30m rail funding pledge announced by Chancellor John Healey in the Budget is "an insult to the people of Wales", a Welsh government minister says.
• Mini-gardens for bees on bus stop roofs approvedPlans to introduce "bee bus stops" aimed to boost biodiversity in urban areas have been approved for Peterborough.
• Passengers plead over shelter shut for five yearsShivering rail passengers at a station where the waiting room has been closed for five years have pleaded for shelters to be installed this winter.
• Passengers warned of November rail disruptionPassengers are being urged to plan ahead for their journeys this November while essential upgrades are made to the rail network. Parts of the Great Eastern Main Line in Essex and Suffolk will be affected, as well as the branches to Harwich, Braintree and Sudbury. The work - to improve reliability and prepare for major track renewals over Christmas - will also affect the lines to Southend Victoria and Southminster.
• Chancellor's £30m pledge for train station is insult to the people of Wales, minister saysWales' transport minister says the cash is a "tiny fraction" of what is needed for the country's rail.
• Delivery of new CalMac ferry MV Glen Rosa put back to FebruaryThe state-owned Ferguson shipyard has now been asked to fit redesigned propellers to the ship prior to handover.

The Guardian

• Save Hammersmith Bridge – but keep it free of cars | LettersReaders respond to Simon Jenkins’s article on the west London crossingSimon Jenkins is a great defender of our national heritage, having produced many books on the subject and frequently written in the Guardian against aggressive modern architectural horrors. How shocking, then, to find him arguing for the replacement of Hammersmith Bridge simply to provide for yet more cars on the roads (Hammersmith Bridge is a symbol of our dysfunctional times. The money is there, the joined-up thinking isn’t, 23 October). He claims that the principal cause of congestion is “London’s ...

Times Online

• This new tech will change your flights in the next year [subscription]ery soon, the notion that you board a flight and get to be cut off from reality for a bit will be as strange as smoking on planes. That’s thanks to Elon Musk’s Starlink, the satellite system that airlines are in the process of aggressively rolling out on their aircraft, which keeps passengers at 35,000ft tethered to the ground through a superfast internet connection.
• People with ADHD entitled to a third off their train travel [subscription]Broadened criteria now include neurodivergence as a qualifier for a disabled rail card, which more than 450,000 people hold already

Welsh Government

• UK Government derails Welsh rail visionThe Welsh Government has been calling for £1 billion as part of that commitment in this budget but has only received a tiny fraction (3%).

Labour List

• 'Put local voices at the heart of decisions about buses'40 years ago Margaret Thatcher's 1985 Transport Act came into force. This law deregulated publicly owned and controlled bus services across the country except in London. Thatcher told her critics to judge the policy by its successes. 40 years on we can confidently say that by every conceivable measure it has failed.

Local Government

• Progress continues on Carlisle Market Hall bus hub improvementsCumberland Council is making further progress on the transformation of Carlisle Market Hall bus hub, helping to create a more attractive, accessible and welcoming gateway to the Market Hall and city centre.

Birmingham Post

• Cardiff Parkway train station project in £30m Budget funding boostThe project which has planning will be delivered by Trnsport for Wales

Liverpool Echo

• Heavily delayed Liverpool Baltic Station costs soar to £160mNew Combined Authority report says promised new station - already delayed by years - will cost double earlier estimates

London Evening Standard

• London rail commuters face rise in fares of up to 4.2% next springThe Chancellor has not allocated funds for a ticket price freeze to continue

Sheffield Star

• Hillsborough residents to host public meeting on controversial transport changesResidents of Hillsborough, Walkley and surrounding areas will gather next week to discuss Sheffield Council's controversial traffic plans, as their petition reaches 1,900 signatures.

Wales Online

• Crashes on 20mph roads in Wales have fallen againBig reductions in accidents on roads with 20mph and 30mph speed limits have been recorded in new data

Yorkshire Evening Post

• 'Another vanity project': People of Leeds give their verdict on train station 'transformation'We ventured out into Leeds to find out what people had to say on the news that the station will undergo further upgrades dubbed 'the biggest transformation in a generation'.

Yorkshire Post

• Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Council has spent £29million on DSA reopening since March 2024Mayor Ros Jones was asked to share how much the council had spent on the project to the current day by Reform UK's Councillor Dan Dawson, after political leaders at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) agreed to potentially purchase the freehold for the airport.

Cambridge News

• Residents slam 'devastating' East West Rail project set to impact 'everyone in the region''Will we be able to live here - will we be able to get our children to school – will we be able to breathe here'

South Wales Argus

• Only 3% of £4bn rail pledge allocated to Wales so farA £14bn UK Government pledge to improve rail infrastructure has yet to materialise.

Other Regional Press

• A66 upgrade in North Yokrshire will now take nine years to completeCouncil leaders have expressed disappointment over the time-frame
• Isle of Wight MPs offered Burnham meeting over ferry regulation plansThe Isle of Wight MP's have submitted a proposal on Solent ferry regulation to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, after Conservative IW East MP Joe Robertson was urged to last month (September).
• Wiltshire MP backs Wessex mayoral authority fundingA new regional mayor could unlock long-awaited investment for Wiltshire - according to a local MP.
• LNER slammed for using caterer that doesn't pay Living WageAn MP has said she is "deeply concerned" that a York-based rail firm is using a catering company that no longer pays its staff the Real Living Wage.
• Next stage of £7bn East West Rail begins despite Oxford delayA major road has closed as work continues on the East West Rail project.

The Economist

• China's investment in transport infrastructure has peakedHas it built too many expressways and high-speed rail lines?

Rail Business Daily

• South Yorkshire sets out £1.45bn transport investment planSouth Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) is preparing to submit its £1.45 billion Transport for City Regions (TCR) programme to Government.

Rail Magazine

• Leeds station set for £200 million capacity enhancementLeeds station is set for a comprehensive overhaul following the confirmation in the Budget of an additional £200 million in government investment.
• Bus fare cap branded 'idiotic' as trial lures away ScotRail customersThe Scottish government's £2 cap on bus fares has been branded 'idiotic' after ScotRail revealed that a trial scheme in the Highlands had taken 10% of its passengers away and onto buses.
• Rail link to Glasgow Airport to be 'at heart' of city's metro plansA rail link to Glasgow Airport will be 'at the heart' of forthcoming plans for Clyde Metro, a senior Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) official has said.

Rail UK

• National Highways to be stripped of role managing historic railway structuresCampaigners have welcomed a Government commitment to hand the custodianship of 3,100 legacy bridges, tunnels and viaducts to Great British Railways, the body expected to take over the operation of most of Britain's rail infrastructure and passenger services next year.

Rail-News.com

• £303 Million Improvement Works Set for Leeds StationLeeds station is set to undergo a series of a major improvement works, which aim to both reduce queues and overcrowding as well as improve accessibility throughout the site.

Railnews

• Budget boost for railway projects Several major railway schemes have been given the green light by Chancellor John Healey, but critics say more attention needs to be paid to rail freight. The Chancellor’s list included the Bakerloo Line extension from Elephant & Castle into south east London, which was recognised as a ‘key infrastructure project’. Also mentioned was Stratford International, which may see international trains at last, along with a further 200 million pounds to upgrade Leeds station as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade and Northern Powerhouse Rail, while West Midlands Metro is also to...
• Angry Welsh Government calls for full rail devolution The Budget proposals have angered the Welsh Government, which said: ‘Promises by the UK Government to deliver a 14 billion pound commitment to put right decades of rail underfunding have been kicked further down the tracks.’ Deputy minister for transport Mark Hooper said 30 million pounds for Cardiff Parkway was ‘an insult to the people of Wales’.

Aviation Industry

• UK airports confirm their support for London Heathrow expansionAirports from every nation and region of the UK have confirmed their support for a third runway at Heathrow, the country's hub airport.
• AEF interactive tool shines the spotlight on the potential for zero emission aircraftJust a few years ago, zero emissions flight was firmly on the agenda. In fact, the UK Government’s Jet Zero Strategy predicted that one in every four aircraft taking off. The post AEF interactive tool shines the spotlight on the potential for zero emission aircraft appeared first on Aviation Environment Federation.

Other News Sources

• First Bus has invested £3.5 million in Lakeside Coaches over two years14 new vehicles and upgraded engineering facilities benefit passengers and employees.
• City Thameslink station to get 10 new escalators during closure from mid-May to late December 2027City Thameslink station preparing for the installation of 10 new escalators as part of an escalator replacement programme.
• Transport for Wales finance chief wins prestigious UK awardOwen Davies, FCCA, Head of Finance at Transport for Wales, has received ACCA UK's inaugural Finance Impact Award.