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

Friday, 02 January 2009

BBC News

• Train fare hikes hit passengersCommuters will have to pay an average of 6% more for their train journeys, as above-inflation rises come into force.
• Hopes for card payment on bridgesAn end could be in sight to a long-standing complaint by motorists that they cannot use cards to pay Severn bridge tolls.

Financial Times

• Alstom attacks Chinese train exportsWestern countries should close their markets to sales of Chinese trains because China's domestic market is closing to outside suppliers, says the head of one of the world's largest rolling stock builders

The Guardian

• Third of drivers admit still using mobile phones despite penaltiesMany people still talk on their mobile phones while driving despite the introduction of tougher punishments, a poll revealed yesterday. Up to 93% of those surveyed by What Car? magazine had seen someone using a hand-held mobile at the wheel in the previous week. And 36% admitted doing it themselves - only 6% down on 2005.

The Independent

• Record rail fare rises 'punishing passengers'Passengers must be protected from the biggest fare increases since the railways were privatised, according to opposition parties, unions, green campaigners and the rail watchdog.

Times Online

• Flybe airline offers refunds for redundant travellers An airline is offering to refund the cost of a holiday if it has to be cancelled because someone in the group is made redundant.
• Hundreds of railway ticket offices to be shut down in cost cutting exerciseHundreds of rail ticket offices are facing closure under a cost-cutting measure that will force passengers to use ticket machines and risk being overcharged.

Mail Online

• Fuel costs to soar again by spring as cold snap pushes up price of petrol Motorists should make the most of plummeting forecourt costs of petrol while they can as the cold spell is set to see prices rise in the Spring, experts have warned.
• Now drivers have to pay £5... just to drop someone off at the airport Drivers are increasingly being charged for dropping off relatives at airports. Set-down lanes outside terminal doors are rapidly being replaced by designated parking areas, according to research by the Daily Mail.

Birmingham Post

• Midlands rail passengers face 6pc rise in faresMidland rail passengers will be hit with inflation-busting fare increases coming into effect today.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Tesco cuts petrol to lowest price in three yearsTHE price of petrol continued to fall yesterday after Tesco cut 3p a litre from unleaded and diesel at its 430 petrol filling stations.

Edinburgh Evening News

• 20mph zone list to be updatedTHE priority list which council officials use to determine which city roads are to become 20mph zones is to be updated.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Bus firm™s green trainers step out in style A NEW range of limited-edition trainers, made from bus tyres and seats, hit the streets of Aberdeen yesterday.
• Shocking toll of bus accidents revealed Accidents involving buses left more than 1,000 people in the north and north-east injured and 19 dead in the past six years, the Press and Journal can reveal.
• Highland Council counts up the cost of potholes in the roadsHighland Council has been forced to pay nearly £250,000 in compensation in the past six years, the Press and Journal can reveal.

Blackpool Gazette

• Give us a smile plea for safer drivingMORE smiles per hour “ that is the message from road safety chiefs.
• Talks on motorway link to ease A585 gridlockPOLITICAL leaders across the Fylde are to hold crunch talks on the future of the Blue Route.

Northants Evening Telegraph

• Uphill struggle to repair our roadsEvening Telegraph readers have made dealing with potholes one of the top priorities for the county's highways boss.
• New year brings in Kettering town centre car park risesShoppers and traders have been dealt the first blow of 2009 with an increase in town centre parking charges.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Rail job cuts 'will leave stations unstaffed and trains dirty'A leading union is to launch a New Year campaign aimed at halting plans to cut hundreds of rail jobs being planned by National Express East Anglia, warning that the move will
• Airport offers site toursNorwich International Airport is to become the only UK airport to let visitors see its day-to-day activities.

Reading Evening Post

• New plea for town Crossrail terminusReading East MP Rob Wilson is urging Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to rethink CrossRail to make Reading its western terminus.

Sunderland Echo

• New bus stop eases shoppers' burdenTenants are enjoying getting about on the buses thanks to a little help from their landlord.

Washington Post

• Panel wants fuel taxes hiked to fund highways WASHINGTON -- A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by a federal commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Dublin rail system sees passenger decreaseDublin's Luas light railway system hosted one million fewer passenger journeys in 2008, new figures have revealed.Statistics released by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) showed that 27.4 million trips were made on the system's Red and Green lines over the past 12 months, a decrease on the 28.4 million recorded in 2007.However, chief executive of the RPA Frank Allen stated that the service was performing well given the current economic downturn."The fast, reliable and comfortable service which Luas has provided over the last five years has produced a loyal and consistent customer b...
• Dublin rail system sees passenger decreaseDublin's Luas light railway system hosted one million fewer passenger journeys in 2008, new figures have revealed.Statistics released by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) showed that 27.4 million trips were made on the system's Red and Green lines over the past 12 months, a decrease on the 28.4 million recorded in 2007.However, chief executive of the RPA Frank Allen stated that the service was performing well given the current economic downturn."The fast, reliable and comfortable service which Luas has provided over the last five years has produced a loyal and consistent customer b...

Transport for London

• Transport for London (TfL) staff member honoured in New Year's Honours ListJohn Lulham, Head of Contracts and Procurement for TfL Streets has been awarded a MBE in the New Year's Honours List for services to equality and diversity through procurement.

Aviation Industry

• BA predicts rise in some long haul travel Not all doom and gloom - Tams read more

Other News Sources

• Pirates hijack Egyptian cargo ship off Somali coastsA group of pirates hijacked an Egyptian cargo ship off the Somali coasts on Thursday morning, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported. The Egyptian ship Blue Star, carrying some 6,000 tons of urea, has...
• New railway bridge installed across A1A new railway bridge has been installed as part of the Hemsworth-A1 link road scheme.
• Crossrail Maidenhead terminus under fire from Reading MPReading East MP Rob Wilson is calling on transport secretary Geoff Hoon to rethink London's £16bn Crossrail scheme to make Reading its western terminus.
• Crossrail and Channel Tunnel Rail Link bosses recognised in New Year Honours listIncoming Crossrail chairman Terry Morgan and London and Continental Railways chief executive Rob Holden head the list of civil engineers recognised in this year's New Year Honours list.
• Rail fares on the riseRail passengers will