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

Sunday, 10 December 2017

BBC News

• The moments London Midland passengers will not forgetAt precisely 02:00 GMT on Sunday, a maligned train operator stopped running the West Midlands rail franchise covering a swathe of the nation. Since 2007, London Midland had offered more than 1,000 services a day. Or according to its timetable it did. The reality was somewhat different. What follows are the moments that left customers bemused, peeved or just plain chilly on a platform, wishing their phone had more charge.
• Memorial marks 80 years since Castlecary train disasterA snowstorm and a signal error left 35 people dead and 179 hurt in North Lanarkshire in 1937.

The Independent

• Six-minute rail link promises to transform North-west train servicesThe second weekend in December marks the start of a new year for the railways of Britain and Europe, when timetable alterations are made and new projects unveiled. When revised services start on Sunday morning, the UK's most significant new train link will be a non-stop hop between Manchester Victoria and Manchester Oxford Road.

The Scotsman

• Expert attacks ’volatile’ Borders Railway service Passengers on the Borders Railway are still suffering “volatile” punctuality and poor service, two years after its opening teething troubles should have been sorted, according to campaigners.
• Transport Scotland wins bridge award despite unfinished workTransport Scotland has won an award for its work on the new Queensferry Crossing just days after announcing up to ten months of extra works on the bridge.

Times Online

• BA bumps staff into economy pension schemeAnother of the great industrial final-salary pension schemes is to fully close after British Airways said that it would put 37,000 workers on to the same defined-contribution plan.
• British Transport Police staff fear for pensionsMorale within British Transport Police is low because of uncertainty caused by its forthcoming merger with Police Scotland, a report reveals.
• Open skies deal will see China flights take off [Subscription]Britain has signed a landmark airline deal with China in what ministers claim is the first of a series of open skies agreements to boost trade and tourism after Brexit.
• Airliner nearly hit by drone over Glasgow [Subscription]A passenger plane narrowly avoided collision with a remote-controlled drone over Glasgow, it has emerged.
• At last, faster trains to arrive in north [Subscription]Rail links between three of Britain’s largest cities — Manchester, Bradford and Leeds — will be upgraded as part of the multibillion-pound Northern Powerhouse Rail project.

Daily Record

• Dodgy door left train passenger in agony but ScotRail give her the cold shoulderSamantha Ebury was hurt trying to help a disabled man trapped in doorway but says she has been blanked by rail firm.

Mail Online

• The Girlpower Tunnel Gang! Meet the female Crossrail engineers behind the biggest construction job in Europe Britain has lowest proportion of female engineers in Europe at just eight per cent, but there’s one project that’s been groundbreaking both literally and figuratively; almost a third of the engineers on the £15 billion Crossrail project are women

London Evening Standard

• London 'one of most expensive cities in world to catch an Uber'London is one of the most expensive cities in the world to take an Uber, new stats have shown.

Other Regional Press

• HS2 is set to 'wipe out' Aston Villa's academy in WarwickshireHS2 is set to wipe out Bodymoor Heath, the training complex in Warwickshire used by Aston Villa.
• Valley rail link hopes boosted by new government studyMP Jake Berry has written to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to put the case for Rossendale lines to be reopened
• Could passenger services return on Melton to Nottingham railway line 51 years after they were axed?The line was a casualty of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s
• Quiet zones on South Western Railway could be axedTrain operator South Western Railway is considering scrapping its quiet carriages and is asking its passengers whether they want them to stay or go.

Other News Sources

• New passenger record for London Luton AirportSome 1,008,184 passengers travelled through London Luton Airport in November, an increase of 5.6 per cent when compared with the same month in the previous year.
• Train user numbers top one million markTHE number of journeys made to and from Stratford-upon-Avon’s town centre railway station has topped one million for the first time.
• Improved rail connections for Harrogate and KnaresboroughSunday rail services between Knaresborough and Leeds have been increased from every hour to every 30 minutes.