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

Monday, 16 March 2009

BBC News

• MSPs to quiz rail share row chiefA committee of MSPs is to grill former Transport Scotland finance chief Guy Houston, who resigned after being caught up in a shareholding row.

Financial Times

• Stagecoach likely to warn on profitsStagecoach , which runs trains on some of London's busiest commuter routes, is likely to follow its peers by warning today that the economic downturn has hit the...
• Airports face fall in passenger trafficThe larger falls of the last quarter of 2008 are seen as continuing. This comes at an awkward time for BAA, the world's biggest airports operator, which is being broken up

The Guardian

• Train firms bid for cash to stop fare dodgersThe government is cracking down on fare dodgers, who cost train operators an estimated £270m a year, with a multi-million pound ticket gate programme.
• Fall in passengers marks end of air travel boomFuelled by cheap flights and rising disposable income, air travel peaked in 2007 with nearly 239 million passengers flocking through airports.
• Britain's electric supercar is readyIt is faster out of the blocks than a V12 Ferrari and can do 0-60mph in four seconds. It will go more than 140mph and can be fully charged up over lunch. But the first British electric supercar is not being built by one of the world's great car companies. It has instead been knocked up in a few months in a Norfolk garage from off-the-shelf parts mostly available on the web.An A-team of British motorsport engineers was commissioned by Ecotricity wind power company chief Dale Vince last August to

The Herald

• Decline in number of Scots air travellersThe decline in air travel has been underlined by new figures which show that Scotland’s airports lost the equivalent of more than 2000 passengers a day during 2008.
• Royal Mail to axe lifeline transport link in HighlandsPeople living in some of the remotest communities in Britain face losing lifeline services following a decision by Royal Mail managers to axe postbus services in the Highlands.
• Transport chief warns of delay to rail journeys to EnglandRail journeys from London to Edinburgh and beyond could take longer because train operators in England are being given greater access to use the East Coast Main Line, transport chiefs in Scotland have warned.

The Independent

• Finance director to take over top job at Channel Tunnel rail link builderMark Bayley, the finance director at London & Continental Railways (LCR), has been appointed chief executive of the Channel Tunnel rail link builder. The current chief executive, Rob Holden, will leave LCR at the end of the month to take over the £16bn London Crossrail project.

The Scotsman

• High-speed rail link still years away, says BA chiefTHE chief executive of British Airways has predicted a high-speed rail line will not reach Scotland in his lifetime. Willie Walsh said the project would be a "fantastic development" but that neither Labour nor the Conservatives had committed to extending the route further than northern England.
• Air passengers fall amid downturnPassenger numbers at UK airports fell last year for the first time since 1991.

Times Online

• Stagecoach feels pressure on rail businessStagecoach, the bus and train group, this morning conceded that its rail businesses were not “immune” from the current tough economic climate, with the growing number of redundancies likely to reduce the number of commuters.

Press Association

• 6.7pc revenue hike for StagecoachBus and rail giant Stagecoach has reported a 6.7% hike in rail revenues so far this financial year, but confirmed further efforts to combat an expected recession hit.
• Trainspotting ban claims spark rowThe Transport Salaried Staffs Association said its officials were told at a meeting that the ban is being planned by National Express on its East Coast line, at stations including York, Leeds, Doncaster, Wakefield, Newcastle and London King's Cross.

Reuters News

• London commuters face rail strike chaosLONDON (Reuters) - Rail unions warned that commuter lines into London would be crippled if workers at firms operating services across southern England agree this week to go on strike in protest at job cuts.

Mail Online

• Millions shun air travel in the crunch: First fall in UK passengers for 17 years Millions shun air travel in the crunch: First fall in UK passengers for 17 years

The Sun

• Tax Brit flights to boost rail'TAXES should be slapped on domestic flights to force passengers onto trains and save the planet, MPs say today.

Transport Briefing

• Stansted Airport expansion challenge thrown outStansted Airport owner BAA has welcomed the High Court's rejection of environmental campaigners' challenge against the government's decision to allow a major increase in passenger numbers at the airport.
• Cardiff handed cash to upgrade buses and cyclingCardiff has been selected to receive a £28.5m package of transport funding to make it a beacon for sustainable travel with significantly upgraded bus, bicycle and parking facilities.
• Stagecoach bus and East Midlands rail revenues upRevenue growth across Stagecoach's rail division continues to climb despite falling income from the company's 49% stake in the Virgin Trains franchise serving the West Coast Main Line.

Birmingham Post

• Short cut for Birmingham's metro extensionPlans for a Midland Metro tram extension through Birmingham city centre are back on track – but the route will be less than half the length originally proposed.

Derby Telegraph

• Little chance of UK firms winning rail contracts in JapanTRANSPORT ministers have admitted that Bombardier would have almost no chance of winning any contract being awarded by the Japanese government.

Edinburgh Evening News

• It's the end of an era as old Leyland buses reach last stopTHEY have been a familiar site on the streets of the Capital for the past 90 years. But today marks the end of an era for Edinburgh's association with Leyland buses, which are being retired after ferrying passengers around the city since 1919.

Metro

• Air passenger numbers fall as recession bitesThe financial crisis has taken its toll on British airports as passenger numbers fell last year for the first time in 18 years.

Wales Online

• Expert’s warning over Cardiff transport plansONE of Wales’ leading transport experts has expressed grave concerns over Cardiff’s multi-million-pound plan to avoid gridlock.

International Herald Tribune

• OPEC keeps production targets unchangedThe oil cartel said that it would not seek a new cut in production targets, as fears about the global economy outweighed calls for a more aggressive stance to prop up prices.
• Railroad bailout may offer a model for DetroitWhen Northeastern railroads faltered in the 1970s, the U.S. government ran them until they recovered.

Aviation Industry

• Virgin Trains poster talks to LiverpudliansVirgin Trains has commissioned Europe’s biggest interactive poster, which will be outside Liverpool Lime Street station.

Other News Sources

• Rail link on track to be a real benefitIn a few months the High Speed Javelin Fleet will be carrying train passengers from Ashford to north London in 37 minutes. Hobbs Parker’s Alex Davies looks at this shot in the arm for the Kent property market.
• Rail link plans for Ellesmere Port waterfront to be safeguardedA POSSIBLE passenger rail link to the massive 25 year development proposed by Peel Holdings on the Ellesmere Port waterfront is to be safeguarded.
• Stevenage-Luton Rail Link On The TimetableThe plans, which form part of a wider East-West rail link, are seen by the Herts Highways transport cabinet as a possible 'missing link' in the area's transport system which would provide a half-hourly service between the two towns.
• Stagecoach reports revenue dip on West Coast TrainsStagecoach Group Plc, today said like-for-like revenues at Virgin Rail Group, which runs West Coast Trains services between Manchester and London, fell by 0.6 per cent in the 44 weeks to March 1.
• Stagecoach turning East Midland Trains aroundThe East Midland Trains franchise’s revenues were 10.1% higher year-on-year in the 44 weeks to 1 March; the franchise was operated by a different company in 2008.
• West Midlands companies should make the most of the £3bn rail opportunityCompanies looking to break into the rail sector are being targeted next week as part of a series of events being held by the Rail Alliance, the dedicated ’super group’ for the industry.
• Rail services will not dramatically improve "for two years"Passengers are celebrating after Southern announced the 6.41am service from Brighton to London Bridge, which was axed when the train company introduced its controversial new timetable in December, will be replaced by a 6.37am train.
• London commuters face rail strike chaos due to job cut protestsCity of London, finance district Rail unions warned that commuter lines into London would be crippled if workers at firms operating services across southern England agree this week to go on strike i...
• BAA awaits decision over Scottish airportsThe UK's biggest airport operator is expected to be told this week whether it must sell off Glasgow International or Edinburgh Airport as part of a move to break up its dominance of the aviation marke...