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

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

BBC News

• Cautious welcome for city bus banRadical plans to ban buses from Oxford city centre and make it more pedestrian-friendly have received a cautious welcome.
• European airports seal allianceThe Paris airports operator says it has sealed a deal with its counterpart in Amsterdam allowing the airports to share services and cut costs.

Financial Times

• United Airlines slips into lossUnited Airlines, the US carrier, yesterday said higher fuel costs had caused it to swing to a quarterly net loss. While the price of oil and related commodities,...
• French-Dutch airports hub dealAéroports de Paris and Schipol are forging an alliance to cut costs and expand internationally, mirroring the merger of flag carriers Air France and KLM
• Neptune Orient Lines to cut capacitySingapore's Neptune Orient Lines is to slash capacity on the most important trade routes in what is expected to be the first of many responses by container shipping lines to rapidly slowing demand
• Private jet operator to file for administrationEuropean Business Jets runs out of funding in an early sign of the tightening market for private jet travel. Barclays, its main bank, is to appoint receivers
• Ryanair widens its attack on the Italian marketRyanair is stepping up the attack by European airlines on the Italian market to take advantage of the parlous state of Alitalia

The Telegraph

• Cross channel commuter service planPlans for a new rail service which would make it realistic to commute between England and France have been submitted to the European Commission.

Transport Briefing

• National Express issues train patrols with head-camsTrain operator National Express East Anglia is issuing security officers with head-mounted cameras as part of a drive to reduce anti-social behaviour.
• Network Rail picks Scott Wilson for Crossrail design roleEngineering consultant Scott Wilson has bagged a £9.8m contract to design stations and other structures on the above-ground sections of the Crossrail route.

Birmingham Post

• £500m goes a long way in transportJerry Blackett, chief executive of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, examines how Accelerated Development Zones might bring a £500 million boost to rail, tram and bus services.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Airport soars in new routes listEDINBURGH Airport is among the top ten airports in the world with the most new or reinstated routes over the last year.
• Car sharing guide for businesses hits the roadREGIONAL transport group SEStran has published a new car sharing guide designed to encourage local businesses to set up their own car sharing schemes.

Journal Live

• £40m bypass plan to clear next stageAMAJOR £40m road scheme – which aims to cut traffic congestion and boost economic development in Northumberland – looks set to be submitted for Government funding approval.
• Anger at secret airport deal on bonus millionsASECRET deal involving millions of pounds of public money was last night agreed between Newcastle Airport bosses and their former chief executive.

The News (Portsmouth)

• MP impressed as police target drivers on phonePOLICE officers invited a Portsmouth MP to join them on patrol as they targeted motorists using mobile phones.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Fuel free-fall offers drivers respite “ but many miss outThe price of petrol has dropped as low as 97.9p a litre after the UK™s leading retailers announced another round of price cuts “ but not all north and north-east communities are benefiting.

Carlisle News & Star

• Ex-Carlisle mayor Craig Johnston set for national rail union jobFormer Carlisle mayor Craig Johnston is bidding to win a place on the influential national executive committee of the RMT rail union.
• Drop parking charge plan, Carlisle council is toldCouncil chiefs are set to drop proposed new parking charges for the Rickergate area of Carlisle.

International Herald Tribune

• OPEC faces tough test as oil price tumblesAs the global economy continues to weaken, the problem for oil exporters is to find a way to stop the price drop as oil consumption falls markedly in industrialized countries.

Washington Post

• Lifeline for Automakers Dangles Just Out of Reach A $25 billion loan program rushed through Congress to revive the nation's ailing domestic auto industry may not deliver any money to Detroit for more than a year, federal officials said, prompting concern that the cash may come too late to prop up one of the country's most important manufacturing sectors.

Aviation Industry

• London shipping community takes a hit in slowdownThe Greek Prime Minister visited Downing Street today to discuss the global credit crunch with the shipping world beginning to feel the crisis with one large bankruptcy already announced and the potential that London jobs could be at risk.
• Lib Dem leaders to visit hydrogen specialist ITM PowerLiberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg MP will visit a high-tech firm leading Britain’s quest to find sustainable clean fuels. Along with the party’s Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable MP, he will see how ITM Power is pioneering ways of using hydrogen as a fuel for cars, trucks and buses as well as a clean alternative power supply for homes, offices and factories.
• Manchester City Council to cut landfill waste from roadworks in UK firstManchester motorists will be the first in the UK to benefit from a pledge that will see recycling used to reduce road works and protect the environment.
• Heathrow's Personal Rapid Transport ('PRT') system is on track as guideway construction phase is completedHeathrow Airport's pioneering new PRT system has moved a step closer with the successful completion of 3.8km of steel and concrete guideways, linking Terminal 5 with the Business car park to the north of the airport...
• Heathrow Airtrack consultation to take place from October 20The second stage of the Heathrow Airtrack consultation, will update residents on how the scheme has progressed in the Staines area and also will give the local community a chance to have their say on the whole Heathrow Airtrack scheme...
• Airport opens first phase ofThe first phase of Glasgow Airport's multi-million pound terminal extension opens to passengers today...

Green Miscellany

• Survey looking at business rail useA study into the way businesses use Norfolk's rail links to London is under way.

Other News Sources

• Oyster card could be set to disappearTransport for London (TfL) wants to replace the Oyster travelcard with new mobile phone or bankcard-based ticketing systems, the London Assembly heard today.
• All change on Dundee’s busesAround a dozen different services are affected in one of the single biggest shake-ups of bus routes in the city ever undertaken by the National Express-owned company.
• http://www.banffshire-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/3332/Call_for_common_sense_on_the_buses.htmlA GAMRIE grandfather who has campaigned for years to improve safety on school buses will this week try to enlist the help of Scotland's First Minister in his fight to change the law to protect children – just days after a Westminster cabinet minister spoke up against changes in the law about overtaking school buses.
• Fuel tax rise warning to TreasuryAny Treasury plan to inflict taxes on the transport sector to replenish depleted funds would hit the consumer hard, a freight association has warned.
• Speedy electrification of Indian RailwaysNew Delhi, Oct 21 : Union Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav today said that Indian Railways is the lifeline of the nation and it is necessary to run fast moving trains in view of ever increasing passenger and freight traffic.
• Baggage simulatorSoftware developed by researchers at Australia's Deakin University is helping to improve airport security systems around the world.
• DfT seeks senior policy advisor for freightThe Department for Transport (Dft) is looking to recruit a senior policy advisor to manage its approach to freight.
• Stobart Air revises Carlisle Airport plansStobart Air - the owner and operator of Carlisle Airport - has submitted a new planning application to develop the site.
• London Assembly urges lorries to use safety mirrorsThe London Assembly has propped up a cyclist campaign by calling on the Mayor of London to urge all trucks are fitted with safety mirrors not just those on the roads since 2000.
• Scott Wilson seals lucrative Crossrail contractScott Wilson today announced it had won a £9.8M contract to design above ground sections for London's mega-scheme Crossrail.
• Contract to track Olympic Park transport awardedThe contract to monitor and track delivery vehicles travelling to and within the Olympic Park has been awarded.
• Divided EU wants poor countries to join climate pledgeEU environment ministers want advanced developing states like China and India to