Return service
SWT and Network Rail have marked the first anniversary of their alliance by highlighting the need to increase capacity at London Waterloo station The South West Trains/Network Rail alliance has highlighted the need to increase capacity into its London terminal by running a one-off special service from Woking into the former international platforms at Waterloo....
Express service ends free travel
Yorkshire Coastliner service to become express route Transdev Blazefield subsidiary Yorkshire Coastliner is to circumvent free concessionary travel rules by reclassifying some journeys on its routes between Leeds and Scarborough and Leeds and Whitby as express services for a three hour period each morning. From later this month, buses will stop at RIllington, outside Malton,...
Network Rail to advise Amtrak on upgrade
Firm will help with Washington-Boston modernisation Network Rail’s consultancy arm has broken into the US market with an appointment to Amtrak’s North East Corridor Partner Forum. The company will provide advice to Amtrak on the modernisation of ageing infrastructure connecting cities including Washington, New York and Boston. The corridor is the busiest passenger railway in...
Souter dreams up a new route for coaches
In his final month as Stagecoach chief executive, Sir Brian Souter unveiled a new ‘sleeper’ coach that could transform long distance coach travel It isn’t often that the chief executive of a FTSE 250 company is interviewed wearing a onesie, but that is exactly what Sir Brian Souter did last week. The Stagecoach co-founder will step...
RATP and MTR shun race for DLR contract
Serco will compete against Stagecoach, Go Ahead and Keolis Serco will face less challenging competition to retain its Docklands Light Railway contract than many in the industry had expected after several major international operators of light rail and metro systems opted not to compete for the new franchise. The other companies on the shortlist for...
Eagle vows to take on operators
A Labour government will take on the “vested interests” of private bus and rail companies, says shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle (pictured) Labour will be “bolder” about taking on private bus and train operators if it wins the next general election, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle vowed last week. In the foreword of a new pamphlet,...
Australia’s Transit Systems enters UK
Brisbane-based firm cialis canadian pharmacy has built a 1,000 bus business There’s a new name in the UK bus market with the £21.3m acquisition of three London bus garages by Australia’s Transit Systems Group. The Brisbane-based business was formed in 1995 by three experienced bus managers after winning a single operating contract in the western...
A new timetable
The government this week published its rail franchising timetable for the next eight years, with new contracts delayed by up to 50 months The scale of the delays to the franchising process caused by the botched West Coast competition was exposed this week when the Department for Transport published its new refranchising timetable. Only three...
‘World class’ rating for London’s transport
Professor David Begg gathered data from 3,500 transport professionals for a report on progress and future challenges facing transport in the capital A study based on a survey of 3,500 transport professionals and comparison of international transport systems has concluded that London’s transport network should be rated as ‘world class’ in a wide range of...
'Britain's best busman' retires
Transport minister hails Brighton’s Roger French Roger French bid farewell to the bus industry last week, ending an 18-year spell in charge of Brighton & Hove. Addressing his retirement lunch at Hove Town Hall, transport minister Norman Baker, MP for nearby Lewes, told French: “You are an exemplar in the bus industry. You have done...
National Express arrives in Germany
New city2city network will launch next month with a fleet of 15 vehicles, but National Express chief Dean Finch says ‘the potential is enormous’ National Express Group will launch its city2city German coach business in April with a small 15-vehicle operation as a precursor to its ambition to provide the country’s “largest network of national...
Go Ahead announces Metrobus to be split
Brighton and London businesses to assume management control of Metrobus in a move that the group says will focus commercial expertise Go Ahead has confirmed industry rumours surrounding the future of its Metrobus subsidiary with the news that it is to split responsibility for the operator’s deregulated business and its contracted operations in the London...
