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

Wednesday, 05 July 2023

BBC News

• Bristol: Residents can now apply for free birthday bus travelPeople can now apply for free bus travel during their birthday months, following delays to the scheme.
• Train firms plan mass closures of ticket officesTrain companies are planning to press ahead with mass closures of ticket offices across England.
• Supermarkets forced to publish live fuel prices to cut costsSupermarkets and other fuel retailers will be forced to publish live prices under a new scheme aimed at stopping them overcharging, the government says.
• Petrol stations accused of pocketing fuel duty cutTreasury Select Committee chair claims retailers not customers benefitted from the tax cut.

ITV News

• Ticket offices to be closed at almost every train station in EnglandPlans to close almost every railway station ticket office in England will be revealed on Wednesday.

Financial Times

• Eurostar in recovery: is there light at the end of the tunnel? Under a new chief executive, the group focuses on core routes to plot a path back to growth post-pandemic

The Guardian

• Labour criticises ‘rushed’ plans to shut hundreds of rail ticket offices in EnglandParty says closures beginning on Wednesday could exacerbate ‘managed decline’ of train network

The Independent

• Rail ticket office closures loom as ministers and train firms sideline unionExclusive: ‘The removal of ticket offices would create the conditions for a muggers’ paradise on the railways’ says RMT general secretary Mick Lynch

The Telegraph

• Train station ticket offices to be almost entirely scrapped. [subscription]Just under 1,000 desks will be put forward for closure in modernisation plans to make railways more efficient and cost effective

Times Online

• Sadiq Khan doesn’t have power to expand Ulez, say London councils. [subscription]The mayor of London lacks the legal power to expand the city’s ultra-low emission zone, or Ulez, a group of Conservative-led councils argued at the High Court.
• Almost all railway station ticket offices to close. [subscription]Plans to close almost every railway ticket office will be announced tomorrow, The Times has been told. Posters will be put up in about 1,000 stations during the morning as a 21-day public consultation begins.
• Councils falling behind on electric vehicle chargers. [subscription]Few are making use of a government scheme subsidising on-street chargepoints

Daily Record

• Volunteers brought back onto railway in Renfrewshire in bid to improve passenger safetyA scheme to keep people safe while travelling on the rail network has been relaunched.

i News

• Nearly every train ticket office in England to shut within three years, sparking more rail chaosNearly every railway station ticket office in England will be closed under Government plans due to be unveiled on Wednesday.

The Mirror

• Nearly every train station ticket office in England 'set to CLOSE under new plans'The controversial Government plans, set to be unveiled tomorrow, will see Rail Delivery Group proceed with the proposals to close up to 1,000 offices at stations across England

The Sun

• OFF TRACK Nearly every ticket office in England to SHUT within 3 years – which could spark yet MORE chaotic train strikesNEARLY every ticket office in England is set to close within three years, ministers will reveal tomorrow. In a move which will infuriate unions and could spark yet more chaotic strikes, the Rail Delivery Group will bring forward plans to bin up to a thousand offices.

Rail Delivery Group

• Proposals to update the railway for how passengers use it todayTrain companies across the country are launching passenger consultations to move staff from ticket offices and into stations, offering more face-to-face support for customers across the network as a whole.

Sky News

• Nearly every railway ticket office in England could close under plans due to be unveiledTrade unions have already reacted angrily to the proposal, with one branding it "daft".

Birmingham Post

• Airbus secures £12m for work at new wing tech hub in FiltonThe aerospace giant, which employs 2,700 people at its site near Bristol, said a critical milestone had been reached on a project which could help make aviation more environmentally friendly

Bristol Live

• People in Bristol can now get free buses during birthday monthPeople living in the wider Bristol region can now get free bus travel during the month of their birthday. After brief delays to the launch of the birthday bus scheme, applications are now open for passes to get free journeys on most buses throughout the West of England.

London Evening Standard

• EU transport chief signals support for train company competition against EurostarAdina Vălean, the EU’s Transport Commissioner, has joined UK Rail minister Huw Merriman in expressing support for rival train companies to use the cross-Channel route
• Hundreds of railway ticket offices face closure under new plansThe Rail Delivery Group is expected to unveil proposals to shut offices at hundreds of stations

Manchester Evening News

• 'Plans to close almost every railway station ticket office to be revealed tomorrow'Plans to close almost every manned railway station ticket office in England will be revealed on Wednesday, according to reports emerging tonight. It means all train passengers would be forced to buy tickets online or from machines.

Chester Standard

• Chester to Liverpool hourly train service won't be back until next yearTransport for Wales has confirmed the Chester to Liverpool service will not return to an hourly service in December as promised. It is the third delay in returning to the pre-covid hourly service, according to North Cheshire Rail Users Group.

Wirral Globe

• Manchester Airport embarks on next phase of £1.3bn transformationMANCHESTER Airport has started work on the next major phase of its £1.3bn transformation programme.

Other Regional Press

• Challenge of government approval for Manston airport development due to be heard at Royal Courts of JusticeA Judicial Review hearing to examine whether a Development Consent Order for the Manston airport freight project was correctly issued or should be quashed will take place from tomorrow (July 5).
• Great Yarmouth bus network to receive £5m of improvementsImprovements worth more than £5m will be made to Great Yarmouth's bus network, a council boss has said.
• South Holland buses produce more emissions than a decade ago – despite passenger journeys tumblingBuses in South Holland produced far more emissions in 2021 than a decade before, with passenger journeys tumbling, new figures show.
• The three Yorkshire councils among those raking in the most for bus finesSheffield, Bradford and Leeds have all found themselves in the top ten local authorities generating the most income from bus lane fines
• Network Rail is turning rural railway lines into 'impenetrable walls' in ScotlandNew data obtained by Ramblers Scotland have revealed no walkers or cyclists have died at Scotland’s 360 ‘private’ level crossings in the past five years despite Network Rail claiming safety is the reason for its controversial crossing closures.
• Euston to Watford Junction London Overground suggested namesAfter TfL confirmed that the London Euston to Watford Junction line would be getting a new name, readers supplied some choices.

Train Operators

• Great Western Railway celebrates 75 years of the NHS by naming train after Aneurin BevanAneira Thomas – the first baby born on the NHS – today unveiled a very special Great Western Railway train celebrating the health service’s 75th anniversary.
• “Senseless crimes that could have been avoided” – Northern encourages customers to download ‘Railway Guardian’ app and report suspicious behaviour without hesitationSome of the worst crimes that have taken place on Northern services in the past year could have been avoided if people had reported suspicious behaviour, the train operator’s chief operating officer, Tricia Williams, has said.

New Civil Engineer

• Steel frame complete on Belfast’s new £105M Grand Central StationContractor Farrans Sacyr JV, designer Arup and client Translink have celebrated Belfast Grand Central Station’s topping out ceremony to mark the completion of the main building’s steel frame.
• 13-week road closure needed to remove Great Musgrave bridge concrete infillNational Highways is planning on closing a village road for 13 weeks as it will remove 1,600t of stone and concrete used to infill the historic Great Musgrave bridge in Cumbria.
• Infrastructure milestone in sight on one of UK’s ‘biggest placemaking projects’Work on the new Winchburgh Rail Overbridge in West Lothian has begun, with the installation of three beams on 3 July, each spanning 36.5m and sitting 6.5m above the railway.

Aviation Industry

• London’s Gatwick Airport Expects Second RunwayAfter five years of planning its expansion, London’s Gatwick Airport is forecast to submit the application for its project soon, looking forward to starting the expansion in 2025.

Other News Sources

• New scanning technology coming to Edinburgh AirportThe 3D X-ray machine will allow passengers to leave liquids and laptops in cabin baggage
• Airport owner reduces losses as passengers returnPre-tax losses have reduced in the latest results for Manchester Airports Group (MAG) as passenger numbers returned to more than 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
• Changes backed for Pembrokeshire’s cash-strapped airportHaverfordwest’s airport – expected to make a £180,000 loss, must be run as a ‘zero subsidy’ concern, senior councillors heard.
• Bus service will continue to run after being 'more successful' than expectedTHE Saturday 563 bus service between Kirkby Stephen and Penrith with continue until at least the autumn.
• Go-Ahead Group invest £30m into a hydrogen bus fleet, creating greener and cleaner bus travelGo-Ahead group launch the first liquid hydrogen refuelling station for buses in Europe. The fleet of 20 carry passenger buses from Wrightbus will be deployed around the Crawley, Horley and Gatwick Airport Area.
• Train passengers can report suspicious behaviour on App - this is howBosses are Northern Rail are urging people to report suspicious behaviour and have relaunched an app to help commuters do this.
• Poland’s railway manager and Siemens sign landmark contractPolish rail infrastructure manager PKP PLK and Siemens Mobility recently agreed on a deal for the repair of point machines. With 730 point machines included in the agreement, it marks the largest single contract for the overhaul of point machines signed by a national railway infrastructure manager, the companies say.
• Mayor of London lacks legal power to order ULEZ expansion, council groups warnOpponents argue the consultation was carried out unfairly and that much of the information provided to the public was unclear