Any Other Business – 16/08 August 15, 2013 ■ Jessica Ennis-Hill is boring under the streets of London, as the namesake for Crossrail’s seventh tunnelling machine. The 1,000 tonne boring machine, whose name was picked by local primary school children, will start building a new 1.7 mile Crossrail tunnel from Pudding Mill Lane to Stepney Green. She will soon by joined by a [...]
Elon Musk’s Hyperloopalooza runs out of steam before reaching the UK August 14, 2013 Hopes that the Hyperloop travel concept could work for Britain are vanishing faster than you can say “Concorde crossed with a rail gun crossed with an air hockey table”. Transport-watchers were quick to point out the practical flaws in the ambitious pod-cum-monorail idea set out by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to much hullabaloo on Monday [...]
Thames megaport threatened by hardline union campaign August 12, 2013 UNION tactics are threatening the success of the enormous London Gateway port development, its chief executive has told City A.M. “The biggest threat to the project is Unite the Union,” said Simon Moore. “They are out to see London Gateway fail.” Moore said he had to placate his superiors at parent company DP World after Unite [...]
Mitie makes positive start to the year with a growing order book August 12, 2013 OUTSOURCING firm Mitie yesterday said that it has “made a positive start to the year” and expects to achieve “good levels of organic growth” in the coming twelve months. The FTSE 250-listed company, which offers facilities, people and energy management services to businesses, has won a number of new contracts in the private and [...]
Boris Bikes set to get harder to find as staff stage two-day strike August 11, 2013 BORIS Bike workers last night began a 48-hour strike over pay and conditions, in a move that is set to reduce the number of cycles available on London’s streets. Around 150 staff have refused to work until 9pm tomorrow, meaning there will be fewer drivers to move bikes to areas with high demand. “Staff running [...]
Debate heats up over future of London airports August 8, 2013 THE FUTURE of London’s airport capacity will move back into the spotlight this week as Heathrow prepares to make a fresh push to build a third runway, and Boris Johnson moves to distance himself from plans to build an airport in the Thames Estuary. Heathrow is expected to tell the government’s aviation commission that it [...]
What the other papers say this morning for 8 August 2013 August 7, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES High-speed orbital rail for London A new high-speed “rail bagel” encircling London will become a priority for the capital as its population soars to 10m over the next 20 years, Boris Johnson’s transport adviser has said. Isabel Dedring, deputy mayor for transport at City Hall, said new light-rail and tram services – now [...]
Train operators say traffic rising in tandem with UK jobs market August 5, 2013 BRITAIN’S railways carried 344.4m passengers in the three months to the end of June, up five per cent on last year – and train operators credited some of the rise to an uptick in the jobs market. Trains in London and the south east of England took 235.8m people in the quarter, a rise of [...]
Thousands of cyclists take to London streets August 4, 2013 MORE than 15,000 cyclists pedalled their way around an 100-mile route taking in much of central London yesterday, in the spectacular finale to a weekend of cycling events across the capital. The Prudential RideLondon festival – developed by the Mayor of London, London & Partners and Transport for London in partnership with Surrey County Council [...]
Luton Airport snapped up by Aena and Axa August 1, 2013 LUTON Airport is set to expand after the rights to run the airport were snapped up by Spanish infrastructure group Aena and Axa’s private equity arm. Aena has teamed up with Axa to buy the remaining 90 per cent from fellow Spanish firm Abertis in a deal worth £433m. State-owned Aena already held 10 per [...]