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

Saturday, 06 June 2009

BBC News

• Metronet's collapse 'cost £410m'The collapse of the tube maintenance company Metronet has cost the taxpayer up to £410m, a report says.
• GM in deal to sell Saturn brandGeneral Motors has agreed a deal to sell its Saturn brand and dealer network to former race car driver Richard Penske.
• Boeing sees orders fall sharplyBoeing says orders in May were down more than 70% from a year earlier after airlines cancelled or delayed plans for new planes.

The Guardian

• Business bigshot: Graeme McFaull, WincantonTrucking is not exactly a glamorous business and it needs a steady hand on the wheel. Graeme McFaull, 45, chief executive, is providing that steady hand at Wincanton, the UK haulage company, which yesterday said that it will maintain its dividend at 14.91p, despite plunging profits.

The Telegraph

• Road and pavement damage costs taxpayers £70m per yearTransport experts warn that digging holes to lay new pipelines or cables shortens the lifepsan of streets and walkways by 17 per cent, while it also leaves an ugly patchwork effect afterwards.

Reuters News

• London Underground ups pay offer as strike loomsLondon Underground made a fresh pay offer to rail unions on Friday in a bid to head off a two-day strike next week that threatens to bring travel chaos to millions in the capital.

London Evening Standard

• Geoff Hoon becomes latest to quitTransport Secretary Geoff Hoon has stepped down from the Cabinet
• Pay offer bid to halt Tube strikeTube bosses have tabled a new pay offer in a desperate attempt to prevent next week's 48-hour strike
• New lock opens door to ’green freight’ for GamesThe first new canal lock in 20 years will be opened in London today — World Environment Day — enabling building materials to be delivered direct by water to the site of the London Olympics

Metro

• Ministers 'too busy' for LDV lobbyWorkers from van maker LDV have been forced to call off a lobby in Westminster to plea for last-ditch Government aid because of the Cabinet reshuffle.

The News (Portsmouth)

• East Hampshire transport issue to be discussedPeople are being urged to go to a public meeting to view plans to improve community transport throughout east Hampshire.
• Firms wait to see who gets £12m Portsmouth port dealPortsmouth Commercial Port will soon appoint a construction company to build its new £12m terminal building.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Push on for cycle-friendly cityCivic leaders yesterday called on people in Inverness to turn the Highland capital into a city of cyclists.
• Hundreds forced to change holiday plans as Scots travel firm goes bustHundreds of people from across the north and north-east have been forced to change their holiday plans after a Scottish travel company went bust.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Road river plan for LeedsA BUSY road into Leeds could be turned into a river to protect the city from flooding.

Northants Evening Telegraph

• Steve's making tracks on great railway journeyA former railway worker is travelling to the furthest points of the rail network to raise money for charity.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Park-and-ride costing to be changedFive Norwich park-and-ride sites are to charge per person, rather than per car, in a bid to encourage lone drivers.

Railnews

• News: Top engineers drafted in to sort West Coast problems TWO Network Rail engineering specialists are being drafted into a new maintenance organisation focusing on infrastructure problems on the southern part of the West Coast main line.
• News: Lord Adonis appointed Transport Secretary as Hoon leaves the Cabinet Rail Minister Lord Adonis was today (Friday) promoted to Transport Secretary in Gordon Brown’s reshuffle after Geoff Hoon left the Cabinet.

Transport for London

• New lock will take pressure off London's busy roads and help to smooth traffic flowTransport for London (TfL) contributes £4m towards new lock that will get more freight transport onto the waterways.

Other News Sources

• Train group wants services back soonerSupporters of a Derbyshire train line have said they are happy two stations are to get back their hourly train services – but they want the change to happen sooner
• Tender: Liverpool - railway and tramway locomotives and rolling stock and associated partsTender, utilities: Liverpool: railway and tramway locomotives and rolling stock and associated parts
• £20m rail improvement work to get under wayA complex rail improvement scheme costing around £20 million between Doncaster and Scunthorpe gets under way on June 21 – and Network Rail hope to have it finished inside 11 weeks
• CAA issues advice on safer air travel The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued advice on travelling safely by air. The guidelines are outlined in the CAA's Travelling Safely leaflet,...
• Giant ore venture sparks call for rail, port regime for juniorsPlans to combine Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton’s Pilbara iron ore operations could shut the region’s emerging miners out of the market as they struggle to gain access to crucial rail and port infrast...
• RHA furious at MEP's comments on Midlands truck parkThe Road Haulage Association says it is furious at comments made by an MEP in which she apparently claimed that a vital Midlands lorry park forced to close down last year had been
• Rail freight industry wants to double market shareThe rail freight industry wants to double the amount of goods currently moved by rail in the next 30 years, and has set out its vision of the future in a newly published paper.
• Sale of new cars hit by sharp fall
• Maersk Logistics and Damco mergeThe A.P. Moller - Maersk Group is set to merge its supply chain management business Maersk Logistics and freight forwarding arm Damco under the single brand name Damco on 7th September 2009.
• Brazil dredging deal signedA DREDGING deal that will lead to doubled throughput by 2014 at an expanded Rio Grande port has been signed by Brazil™s ports minister Pedro Brito.
• Role seen for armed guardsTHERE are times when armed guards on ships are the preferred response to piracy, according to BIMCO and International Chamber of Shipping representatives.
• Emissions trading: public consultation on future EU ETS auctioning rules launchedA public consultation on rules to govern the future auctioning of emission allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been launched by consultants working for the European Commission. The consultation forms part of the Commission's preparation of a Regulation on auctioning of allowances with respect to the third and later trading periods. In accordance with the revision of the Emissions Trading Directive agreed as part of the EU climate and energy package in December last year, the Commission has to adopt a Regulation by 30 June 2010 to ensure that auctioning is conduct...

Other Subscription Services

• MP urges huge fines for emissions scheme cheatsTIM Yeo says shipowners who cheat on any future cap and trade requirements to tackle emissions should face huge fines.