Let’s kick-off with the outrageous fiasco of the Great Western electrification. Costs have soared from around £800m to nearly £3bn and the scheme is being cut back. It is over-engineered and all the trains have to be retrofitted as dual mode with diesel engines, much of the work on these UK-built trains being carried out in Italy. As a result, the expensive and technically complex wiring of the Severn Tunnel already undertaken is rendered completely unnecessary. Bristol will have the dubious honour of its new electric trains being slower than the 40-year old diesels they will replace. Who has been fired? On the East Coast, Network Rail have told the operator that the infrastructure improvements on which the franchise bid was based will now be “deferred and... continue
The Government is setting up a UK Transport Research and Innovation Board (TRIB) to co-ordinate activity by the UK’s major research organisations. The DfT is working with the Government Office for Science – part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)... continue
The UK’s fledgling dockless bike hire industry was... continue
Local transport authorities in the north of England are being asked to give consent to the Secretary of State’s regulations establishing Transport for the North – England’s first sub-national transport body (STB). As a statutory STB, TfN will be responsible for preparing a... continue
Most electric vehicle charging points installed in the North East of England with Government money just a few years ago are reaching the end of their useful life, says the North East Combined Authority. Tobyn Hughes, NECA’s managing director of transport operations, said no provision... continue
The introduction of connected and autonomous vehicles... continue
The Wolfson Economics Prize is billed as the most significant economics prize after the Nobel Prize and the £250,000 prize money is certainly not to be sniffed at. So there was huge interest in transport circles last year when prize sponsor, Lord Wolfson of Apsley,... continue
Two drivers in the West Midlands have become the first to... continue
The Welsh Government’s attempt to pilot free parking... continue
Transport secretary Chris Grayling has announced the winners of £6.6bn of contracts for construction of the London to West Midlands phase of HS2. Shortlisted bidders for the station design contracts have also been named. The civils contracts are split into two stages: stage one covering... continue
Transport infrastructure needed to support new housing in England will be eligible for a £2.3bn four-year fund announced by the Government. The Department for Communities and Local Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund... continue
Stagecoach has published guidance for local... continue
The North East Combined Authority is pressing for a high-speed rail line to connect the area into the wider HS2 network to the south, and to Scotland. Tobyn Hughes, NECA’s managing director of transport operations, told councillors that the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between York and... continue
The Government’s high-speed rail plans have taken a... continue
The DfT has rejected claims that the HS2 project will cost double the current estimate. The Department insists that the project will be delivered within an overall envelope of £55.7bn (2015 prices), broken down as: £24.3bn for London – West Midlands (phase one); £3.7bn for... continue
The DfT should conduct ‘pre-mortem’... continue
The Welsh Government this week blamed the DfT for a delay to the tender competition for the next Wales and Borders franchise. Cabinet secretary for economy and infrastructure Ken Skatessaid the DfT had decided to delay the issue of the new Wales and Borders rail service tender “as... continue
Multiple proposals for demand responsive transport (DRT) services in the capital are being developed, as firms take advantage of new technology. “Market conditions have evolved to take account of changing technology, with multiple market players investigating the viability of a DRT service in... continue
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has placed the Healthy Streets Approach at the heart of his 25-year Transport Strategy. This will require all transport decisions and... continue
The M6 Toll in the West Midlands carries the majority of long distance traffic on the M6 corridor, according to Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL), the road’s operating company. MEL says the road carries more than 60% of all through traffic on the M6 corridor and more than 90% of through... continue
The Office of Rail and Road wants to benchmark delays on Highways England’s road network against comparable networks elsewhere in Europe. One of the HE’s key performance indicators is the average time lost per vehicle mile. But the ORRpoints out that the indicator does not come with a... continue
Gatwick Airport is calling on the Government to commit funding to a major increase in rail capacity on the London to Brighton railway. The rail upgrade is... continue
Ministers must not use cost-cutting or new funding mechanisms to undermine the East West Rail (EWR) project’s potential to carry freight, the Rail Freight Group (RFG) has said. The DfT is currently reviewing East West Rail chairman Rob Brighouse’s report into how the costs of EWR phase... continue
Coventry’s roads could become a testing ground for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) under plans submitted to Government. Coventry, Transport for the West Midlands, and unnamed partners have submitted a bid to Innovate UK’s £55m connected and autonomous vehicles... continue
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