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

Saturday, 01 July 2017

BBC News

• Quality carriages a 'priority' for next Wales rail franchiseFour groups are bidding to run services from October 2018.
• Harpist entertains rail passengers on Harlech trainHarpist Gwenllian Llyr works for a charity trying to increase access to music and she entertained rail passengers between Harlech and Pwllheli in Gwynedd on Friday.
• Minibus driving reprieve for teachersTeachers will likely need a Driver Certificate of Professional Competence qualification from January 2018.
• Cutting rail suicidesNetwork Rail staff and transport police attend a suicide-prevention course which helps the vulnerable.
• BA to get strike cover from Qatar AirwaysBritish Airways wins approval to lease planes and staff from Qatar Airways to cover flights as 16-day strike begins.

The Guardian

• Venus Williams ‘at fault’ in fatal car crash, say Florida police• 79-year-old passenger in other car dies two weeks later• Crash remains under investigation; Williams not chargedVenus Williams caused a car crash this month that led to the death of a passenger in another vehicle, according to a police report released on Thursday.Palm Beach Gardens police say witnesses told investigators that Williams ran a red light in her Toyota Sequoia SUV, causing a 9 June crash that injured 79-year-old Jerome Barson, who died two weeks later. Continue reading...
• 'Always give up your seat for a monk': the unspoken rules of public transportOur readers share the dos and don’ts of their regular commute – from rush-hour gymnastics to gossiping with the driver Navigating public transport is daunting and often frustrating, but what happens when you hop on the metro in another city? How close is too close to stand next to your fellow passenger? And are you supposed to talk to the driver? In an effort to understand global public transport etiquette we asked our readers to share the unspoken rules of their daily city commute. Amid the horror stories of vomiting in tupperware and unwittingly overhearing phone sex, here are some tips unli...
• Fine motorists idling outside schools to cut air pollution, say health watchdogsNew official guidance also backs planting trees, supporting cycling and encouraging take-up of electric vehicles to tackle crisis that causes 40,000 early deaths a year Parents who leave their car engines running at the school gate should be fined in order to help tackle the air pollution crisis, according to England’s official health watchdogs.New guidance from Public Health England (PHE) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) sets out a wide range of measures to cut air pollution, which is at illegal levels in almost 90% of urban areas. Continue reading...
• Britain’s new aircraft carrier may be a vast folly — but it still provokes awe | Ian JackAs a little admiral growing up on the Firth of Forth, I caught the naval bug – and the awkward truth is, it’s still with meWhen HMS Queen Elizabeth left Rosyth for her sea trials on Monday, I remembered my days as a little admiral and considered how some of my enthusiasms that were formed during that short-trousered age have never completely left me.This is an awkward residue of interest. It can lead to a protective attitude towards what the military historian Max Hastings, writing this week in the Daily Mail, described as “giant embarrassments … symbols of almost everything that is w...
• Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroosSwedish company’s animal detection system can identify and avoid deer, elk and caribou, but is yet to work against the marsupials’ movementsVolvo’s self-driving car is unable to detect kangaroos because hopping confounds its systems, the Swedish carmaker says.The company’s “Large Animal Detection system” can identify and avoid deer, elk and caribou, but early testing in Australia shows it cannot adjust to the kangaroo’s unique method of movement. Continue reading...

The Herald

• Tennis star Venus Williams ‘at fault’ over car crash that led to passenger deathTennis star Venus Williams was at fault in a car crash that led to the death of a passenger in another vehicle, police say.
• Glasgow Airport ten years on: The quiet village street where two terrorists plotted mass murderIT is a quiet residential street in a rural village not far from the city, no different to many others across Scotland.
• Glasgow Airport ten years on: The act of terrorism that shook nation to its very coreI was in a press of bodies heading for the exit

The Telegraph

• Student flies to London via Spain as it was cheaper than the train �
• Hopping mad: self-driving Volvos struggling to deal with kangaroos�
• Driver arrested after trying to ram a car into crowd of people outside Paris mosque
• Bus travel drops to lowest level in a decade as LGA warns route cuts will fuel countryside congestion�
• Airlines 'wrongly withholding compensation from delayed passengers'

Times Online

• Airspace revamp needed to halt flight chaos [Subscription]Air traffic controllers have said that the UK government needs to speed up action on redesigning Scotland’s creaking airspace or face thousands more flights being delayed.
• Cruise ship visits sink by 8% despite record tourist figures [Subscription]Last year was a record-breaking one for tourism but the number of visitors arriving in Ireland on cruise ships hit the doldrums.
• Facebook’s solar drone Aquila hits 3,000ft on test flight [Subscription]Facebook’s British-designed solar-powered drone has completed its first successful test flight.
• Father jailed for driving car at race cyclists in Essex [Subscription]Video footage from a member of the public has helped to convict a motorist who deliberately ran down five cyclists as he drove his family to a children’s birthday party.
• Bus journeys fall to lowest in ten years [Subscription]Bus travel in England has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, down to 4.45 billion passenger journeys a year.
• Qatar Airways flies to rescue of strike-hit BA [Subscription]British Airways will use the crisis-hit Gulf carrier Qatar to break a 16-day strike staged by cabin crew from today, it has been announced.
• Airlines shamed over refusing payouts to delayed passengers [Subscription]Airlines faced calls to introduce automatic compensation for delays after an analysis showed that thousands of passengers were being refused payments for late and cancelled flights.
• Digital force fields to stop terrorist vehicles [Subscription]Digital force fields could be installed around sensitive buildings and bridges under government plans to prevent vehicles being used in terrorist attacks.

Mail Online

• Airlines that refuse to pay up for delayed flights Passengers flying from the EU or with an EU airline are entitled to up to �530 if their flight is at least three hours late. But Which? found airlines were wriggling out of paying up.
• Bus journeys fall to ten-year low Bus travel in England has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, down to 4.45 billion passenger journeys, new figures show.

The Mirror

• Plane carrying two passengers crashes and bursts into flames over busy motorway Two people in their early sixties were taken to hospital with serious injuries after being pulled from the wreckage
• Couple buy dilapidated No.51 bus whose route went past their home off eBay to convert into luxury motorhome Tom Grantham, 29, and his partner Kayley Barnes, 30, spent £1,200 buying the Stagecoach bus - and £10,000 doing it up complete with log fire
• Number of people using buses is the lowest it's been for a decade There were 75 million fewer journeys in the past year, a decrease of 1.7%
• Who was pioneering pilot Amy Johnson? First woman to fly from Britain to Australia celebrated with Google Doodle Johnson, born in Hull 114 years ago today, made history with her 11,000-mile solo flight in 1930

Birmingham Mail

• The new rail stations you can use your Swift travel card at from July The popular travel card will now be available to use

Birmingham Post

• Birmingham bin lorries queuing at depot as half-day strike begins Thousands of residents will not have their bins emptied as dispute over job losses and changes to working conditions  continues
• BMW set to terminate contracts if final pension offer rejected German car group plans for next stage in long-running pension dispute as union admits latest offer from company is "the best" that can be achieved

Bolton News

• Drivers given a lesson in road safety by children after a number of 'near misses' on the roadPRIMARY school children have launched a road safety campaign with a difference — to teach motorists about the dangers of driving carelessly.
• Do you know anything about off road motorbikes being used on walkways?POLICE are appealing for information about off road motorbikes being used on walkways.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• How about putting pedal power to the test on your daily commute? ONE by one they emerge from the mist created by the water fountains in Bradford’s City Park on a damp and miserable June day.
• CAR REVIEW: Range Rover Evoque convertible The feelgood factor provided by the open-air freedom of this elegant convertible is enough to make an event of any drive.
• We don't want �10,000 road safety work, locals tell council A COUNCIL committee has been advised to scrap a �10,000 road safety scheme on a Bradford street after residents petitioned against the project.

London Evening Standard

• New York subway network meltdown 'should be a lesson for London'A state of emergency has been declared on New York's subway network
• Jeremy Vine finds �990 train ticket for trip from Exeter to London PaddingtonShocked radio presenter Jeremy Vine found an online train ticket for a trip from Exeter to London Paddington costing a whopping �990.
• Waterloo Station shutdown will be worse than fearedChaos caused by the partial shutdown of Waterloo mainline station in August is set to be worse than forecast, it was revealed today.
• Huge sinkhole opens up and swallows car in Missouri cityA huge sinkhole has opened up and swallowed up a car in a major Missouri city.
• Extinct British car brands: where are they now?Many grand old British car brands are no longer around; we look at their chances of revival
• Watch: Ferrari 812 Superfast reviewedIs this the world's best Super GT car? Spoiler alert – yes it is
• BMW's hybrid 5 Series is a driver's car with green credentialsDon't want a diesel? This plug-in hybrid is a valid alternative

Manchester Evening News

• BA cabin crew will go on 16 day strike over pay dispute from tomorrow The British Airways cabin crew strike will be the longest walkout yet in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay
• Northern Rail drama as 'driver rescues drunk man from toilet with an axe' "Sorry about the door..."

Wales Online

• Why are more than 500 trucks rumbling through West Wales next weekend? If lorries aren't your thing, there's also an FMX stunt team, a fun fair, trade stands, and a monster trucks show      
• Travellers set up camp at railway station car park Commuters in Caerphilly have been disrupted

East Anglian Daily Times

• Fuel safety advice issued after Manhattan Bridge container ship explosion caused death at Port of FelixstoweStrict emission regulations have been highlighted as factors in a ship’s boiler room explosion, which claimed a sailor’s life and left another with severe burns.
• Essex used car company Big Cars among UK’s most inspirational businessesA premium used car business that has sites in Sudbury in Suffolk and Witham in Essex has been named among the country’s most inspirational companies for the third time in a row.

Other Regional Press

• VIDEOS - THE SECRET CYCLIST: What really happens on our streets SHOCKING near-misses where 'impatient' car drivers cut up cyclists and put lives at risk on the streets of Oxford have been exposed in a series of secret videos given exclusively to the Oxford Mail.
• Virgin East Coast should go back to public ownership says unionRail union RMT said East Coast rail should return to public ownership as operator Stagecoach revealed "anticipated losses"
• WITH PICTURES: Powerful main line diesel locomotive officially named 'Royal Corps of Signals' to mark valued 33 year association with Swanage RailwayA powerful main line diesel locomotive has been officially named 'Royal Corps of Signals' to mark a valued 33 year association with the Swanage Railway.
• Birmingham Airport will launch FREE drop and go serviceThe car park will have 135 spaces which can be used for free for up to half an hour and facilities will include a covered walkway to the terminal entrance

C.N.N.

• New York commuters' 'summer of hell'New York's commuter rail lines, subways and buses carry about 9 million riders every day. Six million of those souls cram into the subway system's vast underground maze each day.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Grayling given two weeks to make decision on maligned Southern franchiseChris Grayling has been given two weeks to come to a decision over the Southern rail crisis, the High Court yesterday ruled. In court yesterday, campaigners from the Association of British Commuters (ABC) argued that a decision over GTR’s handling of the franchise had been...
• 'Heroically ambitious' priorities outlined for Wales and Borders franchise The National Assembly for Wales Committee has today unveiled what the 10 priorities for the new Wales and Borders franchise should be for competing operators. In a report drawn up by the Assembly, potential operators were told that delivering new trains, communicating better, making fares more...
• Crossrail remains on budget, but cost pressures increasing The cost of constructing Crossrail is forecast to stay within its £14.8bn budget, but cost pressures are still increasing across the project, a statement released by the DfT has revealed. In its annual update of Crossrail, the department remained positive about the costings for the project...
• Increased staff training having 'real impact' on reducing railway suicidesOn the railway, the prevention of suicides is a sad necessity that all staff increasingly need to be trained and prepared to deal with. But today, information released by the Samaritans has showed how a growing number of people working on the railway are being trained to deal with these...

Aviation Industry

• AEF responds to CAA on airspace design consultationIn November 2015, following strong community opposition to a number of airspace change trials, the CAA published a report commissioned from the Helios consultancy recommending a complete overhaul of the process for airspace change. A new approach was needed, Helios …
• European airlines call for review of airport charging systemsEuropean airline passengers are paying excessive airport charges, particularly at monopoly airports and airports which operate under the so-called ‘dual till’ system, according to airline lobby group Airlines for Europe (A4E). read more

Other News Sources

• Fear over damaged signs Poorly maintained road signs that are meant to help drivers at night could result in a fatal collision.
• M3 Smart Motorway: Roadworks to 'continue for a short period' after main construction finishes this month The two-year resurfacing scheme was due to finish at the end of June
• Government must support freight sector to hit carbon reduction targets, says FTAThe Committee on Climate Change’s latest report to Parliament on progress towards reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions shows that there is ...
• Southern Rail: High Court rules government has two weeks to decide on breach of contract THE Government has two weeks to decide if Southern Rail is in breach of its contract or face judicial review, the High Court�ruled.
• 20 Donkey bikes offer cyclists 'absolute freedom to discover Worthing' A NEW cycle scheme has launched with the aim of encouraging visitors to tell friends and family: “Wish you were here.”