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Friday, 29 April 2011

BBC News

• Gates to combat rail fare dodgersAutomatic ticket gates are to be installed at four train stations in Glasgow in a bid to cut fare dodging.
• Honda sees profits slump by 38%Japanese car manufacturer Honda sees quarterly profits sink 38% as production is hit by last month's earthquake and tsunami.
• Profits jump at Exxon and ShellOil giants Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell report big increases in first quarter profits on the back of higher oil prices.
• Daimler reveals strong profitsGerman luxury car maker Daimler has unveiled a first-quarter net profit of 1.18bn euros, boosted by strong sales in China.

The Herald

• Stagecoach shares surge on strength of revenue growthSHARES in Stagecoach jumped 4.4% yesterday “ adding about £75m to the Perth-based bus and rail group™s stock market worth “ as the City expressed delight at revenue growth across all divisions.
• Warning to drivers as deer accident risk rises MOTORISTS in Scotland are being warned to take extra care due to the increasing threat caused by deer straying on to the country™s roads.

The Scotsman

• Open-top carriage weather or notPrince William and Kate Middleton will brave the elements and travel from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace in an open-topped 1902 State Landau.

Belfast Telegraph

• Bus firm's profits motor ahead BUS and rail group Stagecoach said its profit performance remained on track after sales motored ahead in all its divisions. The Perth-based transport firm said like-for-like revenues in its UK rail arm, which runs the South West Trains commuter franchise and East Midlands Trains, grew 6% in the 48 weeks.

Birmingham Post

• Passengers unhappy at 25% fare hike on Chiltern Railways A budget rail ticket popular with people wanting cheap days out to London will rocket in price by more than a quarter next month.

Liverpool Post

• Shanties and tall ships set to enliven the Mersey at Liverpool’s Spring on the Waterfront festival (VIDEO) THE music of the golden age of sail will return to the Mersey on Friday as the Liverpool Shanty Festival gets underway.
• New aircraft carriers bill soars by £1billion THE bill for new giant aircraft carriers – being partly built at Birkenhead's Cammell Laird shipyard – has ballooned by a further £1bn, the Ministry of Defence admitted yesterday.

Western Daily Press

• Passengers escape from burning bus in SomersetThirty passengers were led to safety when a bus caught on fire in Somerset yesterday. The driver and three passengers suffered smoke inhalation in the fire which is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault. Crews were called to the blaze on Horse Mill Lane, Somerton, shortly after 10am. A Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue spokesman said an incident support unit was called to prevent the spread of toxic fluids leaking from the bus.

Other Regional Press

• LANGFORD: Two people killed as plane nosedives into lakeTWO people have been killed after a plane practising aerobatics nosedived into a lake in Langford. A Met Police diving team recovered the two bodies from the light aircraft in Ulting Lane at around 3pm on Thursday, which had been 10 feet underwater since the crash shortly before 1pm. An Essex police spokesman said:
• ESSEX: County council's £6.6m mileage expenses bill revealedTAXPAYERS have paid out £6.6 million for Essex county council workers to use their own cars in the past year, the Chronicle can reveal. Essex was the only authority out of 434 in the UK to withhold the figures in a recent report by spending watchdog TaxPayers' Alliance – even though it had already released them for a Freedom of Information request from the Essex Chronicle. The mileage claims total 16.5 million miles and place Essex as the fifth highest spending council behind Lancashire, Hampshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. It comes when the council is being forced to save £40 mi...
• M25 blocked after crashThe anticlockwise carriageway of the M25 near Maple Cross is blocked after a multi-vehicle pile up.

Campaign for Better Transport

• The great rail shake-up: threat or opportunity?28 April: Big changes to Britain™s railways are being planned behind the scenes. read more

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Lorries banned from Midlands streetsA number of streets in Cheshire have had a bar placed on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) using them following complaints by residents.Locals in Alsager claimed lorries had been using the highways as rat-runs, with eight roads now covered by the restrictions, the Sentinel reports.Under the ban imposed by Cheshire East Council, any trucks weighing over 7.5 tonnes will be barred from using the streets in question as short cuts.They cover areas where there are primary schools, parks and playgrounds, with the restrictions first proposed in 2004.A spokesman for the local authority told the news source: ...

Global Rail News

• Automatic ticket gates for Glasgow stationsScotRail is to install automatic ticket gates at five Glasgow stations in and around the city centre. The gates will be introduced at Anderston, Argyle Street, ...
• DfT appoints Atkins as West Coast franchise adviserThe Department for Transport has appointed Atkins as their technical adviser for the West Coast Main Line franchise replacement. The existing franchise, operated by Virgin Trains, ...
• Network Rail presents Ipswich Chord plansNetwork Rail will be displaying plans next week at the final part of consultation for the proposed Ipswich Chord “ a £41m investment in Ipswich™s railway ...
• Watchdog calls for ˜enhanced commuter services™London TravelWatch has responded to the Government™s consultation on the future of the InterCity West Coast franchise with its aspirations for rail passengers using the line ...

Railway Gazette

• Extremadura high speed PPP tendering launched SPAIN: The Ministry of Development announced on April 26 the start of tendering for two PPP contracts to complete the 450 km high speed line between Madrid and Badajoz in Extremadura. The winning bidders would part-finance work with a combined estimated cost of €3·83bn, including maintenance over a period of 25 years, forming a special-purpose vehicle with infrastructure manager ADIF to execute the project. The first contract covers civil works and maintenance on the 139·6 km between Pantoja on the Madrid - Sevilla high speed line and Oropesa. Tracklaying, electrification, signalling, telec...
• Lima metro operator chooses Alstom Metropolis trains PERU: Alstom has been awarded a €130m contract to supply 19 five-car Metropolis trainsets to operating concessionaire Tren Lima “ Línea 1 for the Tren Eléctrico metro project in Lima. Proinversión, an agency promoting private investment in Peru, awarded a 30-year concession for the operation and maintenance of Line 1 to the Tren Lima “ Línea 1 consortium of Graña y Montero SA in March. The first trainset will be delivered in late 2012, and is due to be commissioned in 2013. The initial 9·8 km section of the route linking Villa El Salvador and Atocongo, which has been running intermitte...

Other News Sources

• BAA allocates £210m to new capital projects in 2013/14BAA has revealed it will allocate £90 million to Crossrail and £210m to new projects under its £735m capital works programme in 2013/14.
• Business jet operators slam UK government plan to hit them with APDThe UK government's plans to extend air passenger duty to cover business jets have caused anger among the sector's operators, which are concerned about having to pay local environmental taxes in addition to paying for their emissions under the European Union's emissions trading scheme.
• News from Caroline Pidgeon - Why are there even further delays on the Jubilee Line? 28 April 2011 Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on today™s admission by the Mayor and Transport for London that weekend closures and upgrade work on the Jubilee Line will not be completed until July said: "The Mayor, who is Chair of Transport for London, must now apologise to Londoners for this further delay in completing the upgrade of the Jubilee Line. 360-house-thumb.jpg Yes ...
• Council seeks future for doomed airportPlymouth faces loss of air links
• Reducing Track and Wheel Wear - Wheel Flange Lubrication at RailtexProducts designed for enhanced safety, reliability and maximum uptime for high speed rail, commuter and tram services feature prominently on the stand of IRIS Certified rail systems suppliers Rowe Hankins at Railtex.
• Longer trailers will reduce congestion, urges DenbyAs the Department for Transport (DfT) takes responses to its consultation on the introduction of longer semi-trailers, Dick Denby of Denby Transport has called on the government to consider how congestion would be reduced if 25.25m combinations were introduced.
• RHA to fight closure of Forth Bridge truckparkThe Road Haulage Association (RHA) says it will fight plans to permanently close the HGV parking area on the Forth Road Bridge later this year.
• Maersk Line wins two awards at ASFCA 2011 Maersk Line took home the œBest Global Shipping Line and œBest Green Service Provider - Shipping Line at the 25th annual Asian Freight & Supply Chain Awards, which was held in Singapore on 27th April 2011.Maersk Line won the œBest Global Shipping Line award for the 18th consecutive year, which serves testimony to its continued status as the global leader in container shipping.It was also the second time that Maersk Line was awarded œBest Green Service Provider - Shipping Line, recognition of its leadership on environmental performance.Thomas Riber Knudsen, Chief Executive Officer for Maer...
• Kuehne + Nagel named œSupplier of the Year 2010 by Rolls-Royce A prestigious title has been presented to Kuehne + Nagel by Rolls-Royce at the company™s third annual Supplier of the Year Awards dinner.Since 2004, Kuehne + Nagel has worked in conjunction with Rolls-Royce to provide a full range of services supporting its global supply chain requirements. Dedicated Kuehne + Nagel global account teams operate in-house within Rolls-Royce in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, the U.S. and Singapore, managing air, sea, road and contract logistics services, as well as providing tailor-made solutions for the aerospace, marine and energy sectors. Rolls-Royce has now ch...
• Monarch launches a host of new flights in May!TweetLeisure airline Monarch is launching a host of new flights this May from Birmingham, Gatwick, Luton and Manchester airports, with new services to Bodrum and Corfu taking to the skies. New Monarch services launching in May - Manchester to Bodrum “ launches 02 May with 2 flights per week (Mondays and Thursdays) - Birmingham to [...]

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