New HS2 budget to blow £33bn hole in public finances Transport & Infrastructure The government will need to find as much as £33bn in additional cash from tax and spending measures or from other departments to fund its revamped plans to deliver HS2. According to a City AM analysis, the Department for Transport’s updated proposals for the rail line require between £18bn and £33bn of additional public money [...]
Hotel tycoon Arora launches revamped Heathrow runway proposal Aviation The hotel tycoon behind a rival bid to build Heathrow’s third runway has tabled a fresh proposal backed by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic that would build the mega-project in two distinct stages in an effort to keep a lid on costs. Surinder Arora, the billionaire hospitality magnate behind a campaign to reshape Heathrow’s regulatory [...]
AI investment set to accelerate UK transport upgrades Tech Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to play a bigger role in the day-to-day running of Britain’s transport networks, with ministers and industry figures saying that digital investment will now move from pilot projects to country-wide deployment. Transport Select Committee chair Ruth Cadbury told transport and tech leaders on Thursday that the government remains committed to [...]
Eurotunnel ‘pursuing legal process’ with government over business rates November 20, 2025 The firm behind the Channel Tunnel train will pursue legal action against a UK government agency and pull out of all its future investment in Britain unless plans to triple its business rates bill are aborted. Eurotunnel is poised to scrap its multimillion-pound plans to revive a major freight terminal in east London and cancel [...]
Firstgroup doubles down on open access expansion despite DfT concerns November 18, 2025 Firstgroup has doubled down on its open access expansion plans as the transport business defied government concerns over the scheme. The FTSE 250 firm said it was “focused on growing” its operations in open access, an arrangement under which private rail operators will continue to run services after the nationalisation of all major routes as [...]
Third runway shortlist revealed as ministers push for fast take-off October 22, 2025 The transport secretary has shortlisted two potential operators to oversee the development of Heathrow’s third runway as part of an overhaul of the planning process that she hopes will speed up the megaproject’s delivery. Heidi Alexander told MPs on Wednesday that bids from incumbent operator Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) and the ‘Heathrow West’ proposal from [...]
Waymo’s driverless taxi UK rollout puts legal system to the test October 21, 2025 The UK is set to become the first European country to welcome Waymo’s driverless taxis but lawyers caution that current laws are fundamentally incompatible with the technology. Last week, Waymo announced its UK launch will start with a small fleet of human-supervised Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles “in the coming weeks,” before moving to fully autonomous [...]
South Western Railway performance nosedives after nationalisation October 2, 2025 Performance at South Western Railway has plummeted in the months since it became the first network to be brought under state ownership, piling fresh scrutiny on the government’s nationalisation drive just days after it announced the lines that will be taken public next. Delays and cancellations both rose sharply over the three months after it [...]
The only way to make HS2 cheaper? Build HS3 September 18, 2025 It’s a basic fact of economics that the more efficiently you make something, the easier it is to bring down the price. Among the best-known examples is the Ford Model T, one of the top-selling cars in the 20th century with more than 15 million produced. The manufacturing process became so efficient, and each car’s [...]
LNER passenger data accessed in cyber attack September 10, 2025 Train operator LNER has revealed passenger contact details and some information about past journeys have been accessed in a cyber attack. The government-owned firm, which operates services on the East Coast main line between London and Scotland, said the breach involved files managed by a third-party supplier. In a statement, LNER said that “no bank, [...]