Network Rail told to spend additional £1bn on railway upgrades after timetable debacle June 12, 2018 Network Rail needs to spend a further £1bn on Britain's railways in order to prioritise reliability and safety after recent performances have failed passengers, the rail regulator has said. In its review of Network Rail's five-year spending plan, the Office for Road and Rail (ORR) said the total budget for maintenance and renewal should be [...]
Initial costs for HS2 civil works costs are £1bn over budget June 12, 2018 Costs for main civil works on the government's controversial High Speed 2 (HS2) project are coming in £1bn over budget. HS2 currently has a target for construction costs of £6.6bn, while its overall budget for the project is £56bn. The New Civil Engineer has reported that interim costs submitted by contractors are currently above the [...]
Easyjet says a third runway at Heathrow will mean lower fares and new routes June 12, 2018 Easyjet has said fares would drop by around a third if Heathrow is given the green light to expand. The budget airline said the contentious expansion of the airport would allow low-cost carriers to enter the airport for the first time, resulting in increased competition that would drive down fares for passengers. While also allowing [...]
TfL issues travel advice for Thursday’s 24-hour Tube strike and warns Jubilee Line passengers of disruption June 12, 2018 Commuters on the Jubilee Line are being warned to brace themselves for further strike action on Thursday which will mean no services will be in operation. The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union is currently in talks with Transport for London(TfL) to prevent the action going ahead. If it does go ahead, there will be [...]
City groups raise concerns over Elizabeth Line crowding after Oxford Street pedestrianisation is ditched June 8, 2018 Businesses and environmental groups have expressed concern that Westminster council's decision to pull the plug on Oxford Street will lead to dangerous levels of overcrowding once the Elizabeth Line comes into force. The council announced yesterday evening that after consulting with residents it has decided to take the plans "off the table for good". The [...]
Richard Branson says ban on diesel and petrol-fuelled cars should be brought forward to 2025 June 7, 2018 Richard Branson, a new pioneer of electric cars, has said the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles should be brought forward from 2040 to 2025. Speaking at a Formula E event, the tycoon said the UK should follow in the paths of environmentally friendly countries Norway and the Netherlands, who have a 2025 ban in [...]
RMT announces three-day strike on South Western Railway over train guard spat June 7, 2018 Further strike action will hit South Western Railway later this month as clashes with the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union show now signs of abating. The RMT has instructed members not to carry out their duties from the morning of Thursday 21 June to midnight on Saturday 23 June. The three-day strike has been [...]
Euribor developer says it was ‘natural’ for banks to consider their commercial interests in rate submissions June 4, 2018 A senior executive responsible for developing the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor), which became the centre of a rigging scandal, has said it was "just natural" for traders to take into account their banks' commercial interests when submitting rates into the market. Helmut Konrad, a former president of the ACI in Germany who helped [...]
Former Barclays Euribor trader describes losing “a lot of money” in first trade May 29, 2018 A former Barclays trader who stands accused of rigging the European Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) for commercial gain told a London court she feared losing her job when she lost "a lot of money" on her first trade. Danish national Sisse Bohart, 40, told Southwark crown court that despite being given a target of raising [...]
The UK risks becoming ‘over-reliant’ on HS2 for national rail strategy, warns transport thinktank May 29, 2018 The UK risks becoming too reliant on HS2 to plug the gap in its national transport strategy, analysts have warned. Transport thinktank Greengauge 21 has said that in order to develop a truly "national" strategy, the UK needs to move away from the “hub-and-spoke” model centred on London to a network that links together upgraded [...]
