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

Monday, 22 April 2024

BBC News

• Lancashire: Council's special needs transport costs go up £8mSchool transport for children with special educational needs and disabilities looks set to cost a council a £8.4m more than planned.
• Hackney railway bridge work set to halt Liverpool Street trainsServices to and from Liverpool Street station, including the London Overground, are set to be disrupted for more than two weeks while a 150-year-old bridge is replaced.
• Plans for new viaduct to reunite heritage Great Central Railway linePlans for a new viaduct to reunite two halves of a heritage railway line have been announced. The Great Central Railway line ran between Leicester and Nottingham until the 1970s, when old bridges and an embankment were removed.
• Smart motorway tech failing on a regular basisFigures obtained by the BBC reveal worries about the reliability of the tech behind smart motorways.
• Tesla cuts prices in major markets as sales fallThe move comes after the firm reported a sharp fall in deliveries in the first three months of 2024.

Financial Times

• Chinese flying taxi sector claims global lead thanks to regulatory supportShanghai's AutoFlight wins approval for unmanned aircraft in nascent market forecast to be worth $1.5tn a year by 2040

STV

• Train services cancelled after sinkhole appears on railway tracks The fault was detected between Caldercruix and Drumgelloch stations, resulting in train services being cancelled.

The Herald

• Cycling in Scotland - and why bikes are bucking the transport trendsLast summer Patrick Harvie did a photo-op for Scotland’s latest core cycling route.

The Independent

• Train versus plane between London and Edinburgh: rail wins, but not by too muchCould anyone loathe railways any more than the current prime minister? Rishi Sunak’s sheer contempt for the future of train travel (as well as the north of England) was most amply demonstrated when he scrapped HS2 north of Birmingham

The Telegraph

• Dover races to prepare for mandatory fingerprint checksMillions of ferry passengers are facing higher costs at Dover as the port launches a hiring spree to cope with new mandatory fingerprint checks.

Times Online

• Electric car glut could tip manufacturers into crisisWith the prospect of millions of vehicles going unsold, the global auto industry faces a rude awakening similar to the dotcom bubble, analyst warns

Senedd Cymru

• More than £100m to improve public transport and support economic growthWales’ 22 local authorities were invited to submit proposals to the Welsh Government for local transport improvements in their areas that will help to deliver the priorities and ambitions of Wales’ Transport Strategy - Llwybr Newydd.

City AM

• Political scraps over public or private ownership are a distraction to solving Britain’s railway woes Delays, cancellations and strikes - the UK's railways are in a mess. But both parties' solutions for fixing the nation's rail network are flawed, argues Guy Taylor

The Mirror

• Thousands of Brit holiday flights 'attacked by Russian jamming' in huge air safety threatThousands of flights across Europe were reportedly blighted by crippling jamming attacks aimed to throw pilots off and make them believe they need to avoid obstacles that are not actually there

Birmingham Mail

• Driving licence changes aimed at new drivers could 'reduce accidents'Calls have been made to introduce a graduated driving licence system that would put new restrictions on newly-qualified road users

Bristol Live

• Ryanair denial as British Airways found to be cheaper on some routesConsumer champions say you should not always assume budget airlines like Ryanair, Jet2, easyJet and Wizz Air are cheapest

Manchester Evening News

• Thousands of summer holidays could be disrupted as Just Stop Oil activists plot airport protests"The situation is an emergency and we have to start acting like it."

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• UK first: Train operator Lumo replaces plastic bottles of water with cartonsA train operator has replaced plastic bottles of water on board its services with recyclable cartons.

Yorkshire Post

• Hull Trains' new partnership with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust announcedOpen access operator Hull Trains is celebrating Earth Day today (April 22) with the announcement of a new partnership with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

Kent Online

• New hopper bus service launched in Faversham and surrounding villages after Stagecoach axed number 3 routeA rural bus service axed by Stagecoach leaving villagers isolated is being revived thanks to a new volunteer-driven scheme.

Other Regional Press

• Network Rail silence on ‘vital’ Delmore passing loop on Far North Line worries Highland railway campaignersVital infrastructure improvements that could transform the reliability of trains in the northern Highlands appear to be in limbo after rail chiefs again failed to provide any timescale for the work.
• Chiltern Railways grows social value by over £250MChiltern Railways grew its social value contribution by more than £250 million in 2023.
• St Helens bus services down by 59 percent compared to 15 years agoTHE number of buses serving St Helens is almost 60 percent lower to what it was fifteen years ago, data has shown.
• Jamie Greene MSP on the ferry issues facing North AyrshireFerry services across the west coast have once again become the topic of much discussion in recent weeks.
• Kent's first zero-emission bus service may launch with diesel-powered buses!The county’s first zero-emission bus route will launch with diesel-powered vehicles - because purpose-built electric models will not be ready in time.

Railnews

• Relief in Derby as new train order heads for AlstomDerby City Council has revealed a letter from transport secretary Mark Harper which offers new hope for the Alstom works at Litchurch Lane, where ten trains for the Elizabeth Line are now set to be built, after a proposed order for five had been doubled to ten and ‘approved in principle’.

Railway Technology

• Navigating cybersecurity challenges in the transport industry Michael Dugent, EMEA IoT director at Nozomi Networks, considers the current cybersecurity challenges in the transport sector.

Other News Sources

• Grand Central Rail relocates to modern York officeGrand Central Rail have relocated their central office to the modern 20 George Hudson Street in historic York.
• Promised hourly train service 'must be introduced immediately'A Mid and West Wales MS has called on the Welsh Government to deliver on their promise to introduce an hourly train service on the Cambrian line.
• HS2: TBM quartet tackles differing geology on twin bore tunnel under LondonAll four tunnel boring machines are now working on High Speed 2’s Northholt tunnel, which is divided into two sections with different geological challenges.
• Eden Project Morecambe needs electric rail link for visitors, councillor says - but where will the money come from?A Lancashire county councillor has called for clarity over whether some of the cash saved by axing the northern leg of HS2 can be used to electrify the railway line between Lancaster and Morecambe.
• Britain’s bus drivers facing a tsunami of abuse, warns UniteA horrifying 82 per cent of bus drivers were subject to abuse last year, with the same percentage stating that the turmoil of the incidents negatively impacted their mental wellbeing.

News from Europe

• Stars align for night train serviceBELGIUM: Support for overnight train services from Belgium is coming from an unexpected source, according to one of the more unusual missives to reach the Railway Gazette International inbox.