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

Tuesday, 18 August 2026

BBC News

• Revamp of Glasgow's Hielanman's Umbrella landmark put on holdA planned revamp of Glasgow's landmark "Hielanman's Umbrella" - a glass fronted railway bridge near Central Station - has been put on hold.
• Disabled people in England to get 24-hour free bus travel The change, which has been welcomed by campaign groups, will come into effect in England from April.
• TfL urged to prioritise investment in escalatorsLabour assembly member Elly Baker says more of the network's budget needs to be spent on escalators.
• Virgin takes step towards running Channel Tunnel rail servicesFirm wants to run up to 20 daily journeys to Europe but it must get additional approval for overseas tracks.

ITV News

• Virgin Trains given major green light to rival Eurostar from 2030Virgin Trains is set to launch international services to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, after being granted pre-approval to access tracks up to the Channel Tunnel.

Department for Transport

• Drivers can save up to 10 days by notifying DVLA of a medical condition onlineCar and motorcycle licence holders can now notify DVLA of a wider range of medical conditions online, saving up to 10 days for a decision compared with paper applications.

Financial Times

• Virgin wins approval for cross-Channel trains despite Eurostar complaintsVirgin wins approval for cross-Channel trains despite Eurostar complaints.

The Guardian

• Virgin Trains a step closer to running services to Europe in blow to EurostarOperator granted UK track access for as many as 20 daily return trains to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030
• Burnham scraps restrictions on disabled people's bus passes in EnglandDisabled people across England will be able to use their free bus passes at any time of day from next April, as Andy Burnham expands a policy he introduced as mayor of Greater Manchester.

The Independent

• Virgin Trains one step closer to launching London-Europe services to rival EurostarThe company wants to run as many as 20 daily return trips through the Channel Tunnel

The Telegraph

• Households 'short-changed on Heathrow runway payouts' [subscription]Thousands of households will be inadequately compensated for noise created by jets using Heathrow's proposed third runway, rival airport Gatwick has claimed.
• Richard Branson's Virgin to take on Eurostar with 20 trains a day [subscription]Billionaire to shake up Channel Tunnel monopoly with rival service

Times Online

• Virgin Trains to end Eurostar's cross-Channel monopoly [subscriptiion]The rail regulator has approved track access for Sir Richard Branson's company to run services from London to Europe

City AM

• Virgin Trains gets green light for channel tunnel routeVirgin Trains has moved a step closer to running train services between London and Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, after the railway watchdog waved through its application to use the line connected London to the channel tunnel.
• Virgin Trains gets green light for channel tunnel route Virgin Trains has moved a step closer to running train services between London and Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, after the railway watchdog waved through its application to use the line connected London to the channel tunnel. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said on Monday it had given Sir Richard Branson’s train company the [...]

This is Money

• Richard Branson to take on Eurostar with 20 Virgin trains a day through Channel TunnelRichard Branson has moved a step closer to taking on Eurostar with up to 20 Virgin trains travelling through the Channel Tunnel every day.

Office of Rail and Road (ORR)

• Green light for Virgin Trains international servicesThe Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the rail regulator, has today announced that on 13 August it decided to pre-approve a new framework track access agreement between HS1 Limited (trading as London St. Pancras Highspeed) and VTE OPCO Limited (Virgin Trains). The agreement will allow Virgin Trains to operate up to 20 new daily return services between London and Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam from 1 October 2030 to 31 December 2040.

Edinburgh Evening News

• How the absence of the trams could help make the case for Edinburgh's new North-South tramlineAs residents and visitors alike adjust their plans to cope with the fact that Princes Street is out of action at the city's busiest time of year and there are no trams to Leith, thoughts at the City Chambers are turning to the proposals for a new North-South tramline.

London Evening Standard

• Virgin Trains gets green light to run trains between London and ParisSir Richard Branson's company gets regulatory approval to run up to 20 new daily return services between London and the continent

Nation. Cymru

• Train services cut as TfW faces shortage of available trainsRail passengers are being warned of service changes across the Wales and Borders network this week because of a shortage of available trains.

Cambridge News

• Latest on 'mandatory' 15mph speed limit for cyclists on Cambridge trackThe speed limit was introduced to reduce "accidental conflict between users of the shared use track"

My London

• Sadiq Khan issues Heathrow expansion warning with stark '22million' predictionThe government's case to move forward with expanding Heathrow Airport has not been "sufficiently made" and heavily relies on outdated evidence from 2015, the Mayor of London has said.

Other Regional Press

• Green MSP calls for improved rail services at CarstairsLocal MSP Laura Moodie has called for more rail services to stop at Carstairs station following requests from constituents in South Lanarkshire.
• How much public money does Dundee Airport to London route receive?The Dundee Airport to London route has received millions of pounds of public funding in the last three years. Last week it emerged that flights between the City of Discovery and London Heathrow would be ending on October 23.
• Heathrow Invites Businesses Across North Wales to Regional Business SummitHeathrow is inviting North Wales firms to a summit designed to connect businesses directly into its supply chain.

Modern Railways

• DB Cargo UK up for saleIn a statement issued to the operator's 2,155 staff at 11.00 on 17 August, DBC UK CEO Andrea Rossi said that as the business looks to the future and pursues its growth ambitions, the UK Management Board has announced it is looking for a new owner to provide access to additional capital, broader market opportunities and the scale required to support the next phase of the business development.
• Green light for Virgin Trains international servicesThe Office of Rail and Road has pre-approved a new framework track access agreement between HS1 Limited (trading as London St Pancras Highspeed) and VTE OPCO Limited (Virgin Trains) which will allow VT to operate up to 20 daily return trains between St Pancras, Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam from 1 October 2030 to 31 December 2040.

New Civil Engineer

• Interview | Former Welsh infrastructure advisor on the challenges Wales facesDavid Clubb stood down as chair of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW) last month, after more than four years in the role.

Rail Advent

• Electrification makes an appearance on Borders RailwayAfter starting electrification work on the Borders Railway in February, Network Rail engineers have now begun installing the steel masts that will support the overhead wires needed to supply power to new battery-electric trains.

Rail Business Daily

• ScotRail Class 385 fleet clocks up more than 62 million milesScotRail's Class 385 fleet has clocked up more than 62 million miles since entering passenger service in 2018 more than 130 return journeys to the Moon.
• London Charing Cross and Waterloo East reopen after railway carries out £20 million programme of engineering workSoutheastern services have resumed, once again, at Charing Cross and Waterloo East after a 22-day closure for essential engineering work at the central London terminus.
• Car parking spaces will almost double at Moorthorpe Rail StationThe number of parking spaces at Moorthorpe Station will almost double thanks to a £2.5 million investment, making it easier for people in Wakefield to travel by train.

Rail Magazine

• AI goes from drawing board to tracksideIn July, an AI inspection tool fitted to an LNER train flagged a possible rail defect. The image showed a snake stretched across the rail. It was an eye-catching false alarm that soon hit the media; it was also a useful description of how the technology works: the system identifies something unusual, and a human reviews the evidence.
• DB Cargo UK up for sale as Deutsche Bahn refocuses on Central EuropeDB Cargo UK has officially begun the search for a new owner after parent group DB Cargo AG decided to concentrate its core Central European operations.

TaxiPoint

• POINTS AND A FINE: London taxi drivers warned NOT to use M4 Spur bus lane into Heathrow Airport Terminals 2 and 3 Perry RichardsonLondon cabbies are being urged to observe the bus lane restrictions on the approach to Heathrow Airport's Terminals 2 and 3 following reports that police officers have been carrying out enforcement in the area.

Aviation Industry

• East Midlands Airport delivers £6.2 billion boost to UK economyEast Midlands Airport (EMA) generated a £6.2bn contribution to the UK economy last year, underlining its role as one of the country's most important aviation and logistics assets.
• SWISS strengthens its Geneva base with larger aircraftSWISS is adjusting its fleet at its Geneva base for summer 2027. The airline will replace two Airbus A220-300s with two Airbus A320neos. This will create additional seats on the high-demand Geneva-London Heathrow route.

Other News Sources

• Bidding invited for first publicly run bus services in the West MidlandsBus companies have been officially invited to submit bids to run the first publicly-owned services on West Midlands roads in more than 40 years.
• Connecting Mid Wales Can Unlock Business and Tourism GrowthThe economic ambitions of Mid Wales depend on our ability to connect people, businesses and places across two of the most rural counties in Wales. With a dispersed population, long distances between communities and very different transport needs from one area to another, investment has to reflect how people actually live, work and travel across Powys and Ceredigion.
• Disabled Bus Pass Time Restrictions Scrapped After Almost Two-year Long Campaign By Tom Gordon MPThe Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough had been due to force a second Commons vote on the change this September
• Mapping Britain's Railways: 7 iconic rail diagrams explored in new bookWhen is a map not a map? When it is a schematic rail diagram.
• Etihad Rail sells over 70,000 passenger rail tickets in five weeksEtihad Rail has sold more than 70,000 passenger tickets since opening its introductory service, giving the UAE's new inter-city rail operator its first demand signal before the network expands beyond the initial Abu Dhabi-Fujairah axis.
• Northern economy transformed through evolution of airport, says report marking 25 years of Manchester's Runway 2The last runway to be built in the UK has profoundly changed the Northern economy over 25 years and has the potential to deliver and even greater boost in the future, a report out today concludes.