Public Transport news

• Out now: Issue 157 of Passenger Transport

  06-04-2017 12:01 via passengertransport.co.uk
  Issue 157 of Passenger Transport is published on April 7
  Contents include:
    
   
  LEAD STORYQuality decisive factor in South Western swap
  First time a bidder offering lower premium payments but higher quality proposals has won a DfT rail franchise since new approach began in 2013
   
  NEWS
  Labour Party unveils pro-public bus strategy
  Labour would extend ability to introduce bus franchising without sign off from secretary of state to all local authorities, as CPT defends statu
  
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• Quality decisive factor in South Western swap

  06-04-2017 11:49 via passengertransport.co.uk
  First time a bidder offering lower premium payments but higher quality proposals has won a DfT rail franchise since new approach began in 2013
   
  Stagecoach ordered a £210m fleet of new Class 707 trains for South Western, but First/MTR will phase them out
   
  First/MTR has won the new South Western franchise despite offering to pay the Department for Transport less for the contract than incumbent operator Stagecoach. It is understood that First/MTR’s bid received a higher qual
  
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• TrawsCymru buses to be free at weekends

  06-04-2017 11:42 via passengertransport.co.uk
  Welsh first minister pledges 12-month trial ‘to strengthen bus services’, but bus operators raise concerns about the plan. Rhodri Clark reports
   
  TrawsCymru
   
  Carwyn Jones, first minister of Wales, has announced free weekend travel on TrawsCymru bus services, funded by the Welsh Government. The bus industry was not consulted before the announcement.
  At the Welsh Labour Conference in Llandudno, Jones announced three measures which, he said, would make a tangible difference t
  
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• Could British trains use free hydrogen fuel?

  06-04-2017 11:38 via passengertransport.co.uk
  Rolling stock leasing company director cites Alstom’s trial of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered train in Germany as a potential option for UK railways
   
  Coradia iLint is Alstom’s new CO2-emission-free regional train and alternative to diesel power. It is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell
   
  Hydrogen could provide free fuel for trains in the future, according to a director at rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook. Olivier André, Porterbrook’s commercial director, a
  
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• Plugging into the air quality agenda

  06-04-2017 11:32 via passengertransport.co.uk
  With dirty city air rising up the agenda, transport, energy and air quality policies need to plug in. Nottingham is showing the way
   
  Nottingham has one of Europe’s largest electric bus fleets
   
  ‘The Great Stink’ of 1858, where the Thames’ role as a sewer and industrial waste outlet culminated in an intolerable summer for parliamentarians, finally led to the creation of a modern sewerage system for the capital. For cholera then, read cancer now, as the grey haz
  
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• Night owls: portraits of life on the night bus – in pictures

  06-04-2017 08:00
  
  In an ongoing project, Guardian photographer Sarah Lee immerses herself in the world of London’s buses, capturing candid portraits of people during their night-time journeys Continue reading...
  
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• World's biggest electric car manufacturers to showcase wares in Swansea

  06-04-2017 02:00 via walesonline.co.uk
  
  Wales Online -Tesla, BMW and Mitsubishi are all coming to the city later this month
  
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• Underground stations shut daily over staff shortage

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - Temple was the most commonly closed station, being shut 25 times over 2016.
  
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• UK new car sales speed to record high

  06-04-2017 02:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian - Buyers seize chance to buy cars before new tax rates come into force, but analysts warn demand is likely to slowNew car sales in the UK hit an all-time high last month, with more than half a million vehicles registered, including a record number of diesel models.A total of 562,337 new cars took to the roads in March as sales of new cars rose 8.4 from a year earlier. It was the biggest month since the Society of Motor Manufacturers mp; Traders started collecting data in 1976.
  
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• TV presenter Iolo Williams criticises proposed M4 relief road

  06-04-2017 02:00 via southwalesargus.co.uk
  
  Other Regional Press -WILDLIFE expert Iolo Williams has slammed the proposed M4 relief road for potentially
  
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• The remaining pieces of the South Bristol transport jigsaw

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bristol247.com
  
  Other Regional Press - The Arena comes back to the Bristol Cabinet on Tuesday April 4. Leaving aside the build costs, transport and parking are high up the list of challenges.
  
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• Stansted Airport announces new £130m arrivals terminal

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - The site will take three years to build and will include bigger immigration and baggage reclaim areas.
  
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• Southern rail strike by RMT to go ahead despite talks

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - Saturday's strike will be the 31st day of action in the dispute over driver-only operated trains.
  
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• Scottish new car registrations rise by 8.6

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - Motor traders say sales in March were boosted by the new number plate and planned tax changes.
  
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• Record UK car registrations in March

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - A change in the number plate and tax changes boost registrations to a monthly record.
  
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• Plans to cut rail journey times between north and the central belt take step forward

  06-04-2017 02:00 via pressandjournal.co.uk
  
  The Press and Journal (Aberdeen) - Railway bosses are drawing up proposals for the next stage of a revamp of the Highland Main Line between Inverness and Perth.
  
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• One London Underground station closed every day due to lack of staff

  06-04-2017 02:00 via standard.co.uk
  
  London Evening Standard - An average of one London Underground station had to close every day last year because of a lack of staff.
  
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• NR earmarks West Midlands site for sleeper construction facility

  06-04-2017 02:00 via railtechnologymagazine.com
  
  Rail Technology Magazine - Network Rail has identified a site in Sandwell to build a new factory that will produce concrete sleepers for the network in the future. The railway sidings at Bescot have been selected for the potential project, and will create 100 jobs in the West Midlands whilst ensuring that Bescot is a key...
  
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• Network Rails knotweed policy is undermining my house sale

  06-04-2017 02:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian - I have had two sales fall through because it would not provide details of how it planned to eradicate nearby weed enough to satisfy mortgage lenders
  
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• Merseyrail urges RMT to cancel strike

  06-04-2017 02:00 via railnews.co.uk
  RailNews.co.uk -Merseyrail has urged the RMT to cancel Saturdays strike over DOO, which is set to disrupt the Liverpool regions rail network on Grand National Day. The appeal has followed publication today of a set of safety principles from the Office of Rail and Road covering driver controlled operation, which say that platforms and trains must be compatible, that the nature of the operation needs to be assessed alongside the needs of passengers and their behaviour, and that staff should be tra
  
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• Marshall Aviation Services' Broughton workers offered support

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - The Welsh Government is set to offer support to workers hit by an aviation firm's plans to close its Flintshire branch where over 120 jobs are at risk.
  
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• Map apps like Waze 'turning quiet London streets into polluted rat runs'

  06-04-2017 02:00 via standard.co.uk
  
  London Evening Standard - Drivers who use super-accurate smartphone apps to avoid traffic are turning quiet streets into polluted rat runs, residents claim.
  
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• Major plans announced for 'transport interchange' at Flitwick train station

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bedfordshire-news.co.uk
  Other Regional Press - PLANS to create a 'transport interchange' with improved bus and cycle facilities on land next to Flitwick train station have taken a step forward.
  
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• London Stansted Airport receives planning permission for new £130 million arrivals building

  06-04-2017 02:00 via cambridgenetwork.co.uk
  Other News Sources - London Stansted Airport has received planning permission from Uttlesford District Council for a new £130 million arrivals building that will enhance the passenger experience and provide capacity for growth over the next decade.
  
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• Iolo Williams brands M4 relief road plan 'a joke'

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - The naturalist and TV presenter said species such as otters and water voles would be affected by the relief road.
  
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• How electrification will reduce journey times between South Wales and London

  06-04-2017 02:00 via walesonline.co.uk
  
  Wales Online - New services from South Wales to Paddington will miss out stopping at Swindon and Reading train stations
  
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• Evening Standard comment: The flight from diesel and the new economy

  06-04-2017 02:00 via standard.co.uk
  
  London Evening Standard - It hasn't taken London drivers long to respond to the punitive new measures to curb diesel use. Official figures showed the number of new diesel cars registered in the capital in March plummeting by nearly nine per cent compared with a year ago, contradicting a national rise.
  
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• EASA issues fire safety warning on personal electronics in cargo hold

  06-04-2017 02:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Aviation Industry- In a bulletin that seems to directly question the wisdom of the new US and UK bans on large electronic devices in carry-on luggage, Europes aviation safety authority today warns that such devices are dangerous goods in the cargo hold.read more
  
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• Driverless cars could soon hit the streets of Oxford

  06-04-2017 02:00 via oxfordmail.co.uk
  
  Other Regional Press -DRIVERLESS cars could be zooming around the streets of Oxford by the end of this year.
  
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• Disabled rail passengers march on London Bridge in protest against Southern Rail

  06-04-2017 02:00 via standard.co.uk
  
  London Evening Standard - Disability rights campaigners have marched through London Bridge station in protest at Southern Rail for scrapping "turn up and go" assistance at 33 stations.
  
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• Deliveroo pedals new language of gig economy

  06-04-2017 02:00 via ft.com
  Financial Times - Say invoice not pay and log in not start shift, self-employed couriers told
  
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• Cracking the challenge of Bristols transport problems

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bristol247.com
  
  Other Regional Press - Mayor Marvin Rees vowed to crack the substantial challenge of solving Bristols transport problems as he prepares to take control of the citys infrastructure.
  
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• Cardiff Airport 'central' to Flybe's five-year plan

  06-04-2017 02:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News - The airline's new chief executive says there is the prospect of new charter flights at the airport.
  
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• Bombardier and Vlexx Sign Contract to Provide 21 TALENT 3 Trains for Operation in Saarland, Germany

  06-04-2017 02:00 via railway-technology.com
  Rail Technology Magazine -Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation and emerging transport company vlexx GmbH have signed a contract to provide 21 three-car BOMBARDIER TALENT 3 electric multiple units. The new trains are scheduled to begin operation on the Saar region'
  
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• AIX 2017: Airbus creates cabin upgrades subsidiary

  06-04-2017 02:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Aviation Industry- Airbus has created Airbus Interiors Services (AIS) to perform commercial aircraft cabin upgrade work, as a revamp of its former Airbus Corporate Jet Center (ACJC) business.read more
  
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• Air India future in doubt after auditor concerns

  06-04-2017 02:00 via ft.com
  Financial Times - Costly loans spark worries for national carrier that was bailed out
  
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• Account-based ticketing: a model for the future

  06-04-2017 02:00 via railway-technology.com
  
  Rail Technology Magazine -As public transport adoption across the globe continues to grow, the need to overhaul the transport ticketing process has become more pressing than ever, as David Jacobs, global head of solutions at Vix Technology, explains.
  
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• 130million new Stansted Airport arrivals building gets the go-ahead

  06-04-2017 02:00 via eadt.co.uk
  
  East Anglian Daily Times - Stansted Airport has been given the green light for a new £130million three-level arrivals building which will cater for future passenger growth over the next decade.
  
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