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

Sunday, 17 March 2024

BBC News

• Housing scheme prompts fresh calls for Ripon rail linkReopening a cathedral city's rail link is needed to keep up with a growing population, a councillor has said.
• Some yellow box junctions too big, says RACNearly all of the yellow box junctions which generate the most fines in Cardiff and London are larger than necessary, the RAC has said.
• Cambridgeshire e-scooter and bike trial area could be extendedAn e-scooter trial could continue for another two years with new boundaries so users can travel further.
• LTNs: Councils told to consider residents' support under new guidanceCouncils in England will have to consider local residents' views before introducing new low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) under new government guidance.
• Boeing plane lands without panel in OregonNo-one is injured after the 737-800 lands without an external panel, which went unnoticed in flight.
• How much trouble is Boeing in?The US plane giant is under pressure from regulators and airlines, and its reputation is badly damaged.

Department for Transport

• Crackdown on anti-driver road schemes and blanket 20mph limits to put local consent firstThese measures from the Plan for Drivers will improve drivers' lives, shorten journey times, and ensure traffic measures have buy-in from the people they impact.

Financial Times

• Dublin Airport warns of revenue hit from passenger capIreland’s open economy makes country disproportionately dependent on air travel

The Guardian

• United Airlines Boeing plane loses external panel in flightThe US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 lost an external panel before landing safely in Oregon.
• Just when we need them most: Britain's car share clubs face closure as last insurer pulls outThe community-owned car pools have been hailed as a greener alternative to full-time ownership, but insurers say driver risk is hard to measureUp to 40 community car clubs across the UK could be forced to close after the last insurance firm covering such groups announced it was pulling out of the sector.

Times Online

• Cities can’t grow because of bad public transport. What’s the answer? [subscription]With commuters unable to reach city centres in half an hour, there is an urgent need for investment in mass-transit systems. A £2.5bn metro-style railway in Yorkshire is the first step

Daily Express

• Scrapping HS2 was great pity - this is how the UK should control costs of future projectsEx-minister Michael Portillo voices his frustration as costs derail another major UK project - and highlights one major factor which saw costs of the project spiral.

Sky News

• 'Good progress' on works forcing first ever closure of M25"Good progress" has been made on the M25 in Surrey, where engineers are bringing down a bridge during the motorway's first ever planned daytime closure.

Bolton News

• New Bee Network buses subject to safety notice over fire fearsNew electric buses operating in Greater Manchester are subject to a safety notice because of fears they could catch fire.

London Evening Standard

• London bus shelters getting specially-designed CCTV cameras in bid to boost safetyTfL also revealed that it has hired 15 enforcement officers to make night patrols across London’s transport network

Nation. Cymru

• Transport for Wales confirms expansion of contactless ‘tap in, tap out’ payment systemTransport for Wales is introducing its contactless tap in, tap out ‘Pay As You Go’ payment option to the Ebbw Vale line from Monday 18 March.
• I visited the railway development in Wales that could be bigger than GibraltarOn the mountains of Neath Port Talbot there’s a unique and large-scale development starting to take shape that could have a massive impact on the area.

Sheffield Star

• Northern Lights: Let’s get our public transport network moving once againNext Friday, 22nd March, South Yorkshire’s Supertram comes into public ownership for the first time since it was built almost 30 years ago.

Other Regional Press

• Plans to extend Sprint bus route to North Solihull in pipelinePLANS to create a new ‘turn-up-and-go’ Metro and Sprint across the region are in the pipeline.
• Plan to bring Ayrshire buses under public control approvedPlans that could see buses in Ayrshire brought back under public control have been approved as part of moves to tackle “a declining bus market”.

Rail Advent

• East Midlands Railway adds to stations offering virtual toursEast Midlands Railway have increased the number of stations where customers can take a virtual tour to make them more familiar with the layout of the stations before they travel.

Route One (Bus and Coach)

• Trying to make sense of the political questions around bus importsOur political correspondent ponders the enigma of parliamentary questions on foreign-built buses
• Learning from the success stories of bus patronage growthThe Department for Transport’s (DfT) annual bus patronage statistics reveal a startling disparity across local authorities (LAs). In terms of passenger journeys per head, the latest available data show that the top three LAs are at least 25% more successful than the next best and more than three times better than the national average outside London.

News from Europe

• Stadler to establish a facility at Hennigsdorf near BerlinStadler is to establish a facility at Hennigsdorf near Berlin where it will commission rolling stock produced at its Berlin Pankow plant.
• Munich Airport Emerges as Freight Transport Hub Amidst German DeclineMunich Airport can look back on a successful year in air freight in 2023. According to data from the German Airports Association (ADV), Munich Airport was the only major German airport to record growth in freight transportation in 2023. With a volume of 284,000 tons, the airport registered a year-on-year increase of 6.6%, while the total volume in Germany fell by 7.1%.