Minister says building work on 250mph route cutting journey times between London and Birmingham could begin in 2017The government today unveiled plans for a £30bn high-speed rail network, with the first phase between London and Birmingham opening in 2026.Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, said building work on the 250mph route could begin in 2017 once a formal public consultation has been completed.The route linking the capital and England's second city, which will cut journey times from 84 minutes to 49 minutes, will originate at London Euston and pass through Old Oak Common, in west London, where a Crossrail interchange will transport passengers to Heathrow airport.Controversially, the line will then run through the Chiltern hills in Buckinghamshire, past picturesque villages such...

Double-decker trams in Hong Kong. For more, see Hong Kong's marvellous transit...

• BA accepts partial repeal of staff cuts on flights• Union mulls counter-offer as 5pm deadline for talks loomsBritish Airways has tabled an 11th-hour counter-offer as peace talks over a looming cabin crew strike go to the wire.The airline has responded to the offer of a 2.6% pay-cut by the Unite trade union with its own demands. Unite is considering the proposals but sources close to the talks said the union and representatives from its cabin crew branch, Bassa, harboured serious concerns about the counter-move.It is understood that BA has accepted a partial repeal of cuts to staffing levels on flights but it wants fewer crew back onboard than Unite has proposed.The TUC, which is hosting the peace talks, has set a deadline of 5pm to achieve a deal but both sides have shown...

• LU says firm should put up cash needed for upgrades• Operator warns it will be forced to make cuts to fill gapLondon Underground has warned that taxpayers are on the verge of being saddled with the £400m cost of keeping alive the controversial public-private partnership to repair the capital's tube network.The tube PPP is one of the most controversial legacies of Gordon Brown's tenure as chancellor due to a complex structure that lets the private sector have considerable influence over a major public asset.An exchange of letters between LU, the government and the PPP contract referee, seen by the Guardian, indicate that the publicly owned tube operator will have to make multimillion-pound spending cuts, raise fares or cut back on network upgrades to plug a £400m funding gap in the...

One person died and several passengers were injured today in a crash between two buses.The accident happened in the Newfield area of Chester le Street, County Durham, just after 4pm.Durham Police said three passengers had been taken to hospital with what was thought to be minor injuries.Another person was being cut free from the wreckage by emergency services."There has been a collision between two single deck buses," a Durham Police spokesman said."At present it is known that one person has died and a number of passengers have been injured."Two air ambulances have been drafted to the scene along with several ordinary ambulances. Fire and rescue are also there."At least one person is being cut free. Three people have been taken to hospital with what are believed to be at this time to be...

BA chief executive Willie Walsh says 1,000 volunteers will help if cabin crew walk outBritish Airways signalled its readiness for a lengthy cabin crew strike today, outlining plans to break a walkout with 1,000 volunteer flight attendants and a temporary fleet of chartered jets.Willie Walsh, the chief executive, told staff BA was "as prepared as we can be" for a strike that could come as soon as next week if peace talks with the Unite trade union break down.Walsh said 6,000 staff, about a quarter of BA's non-cabin crew workforce, had volunteered to help in the event of industrial action. BA expects to have 1,000 auxiliary cabin crew, including role-swapping pilots, ready by next week. Plans are also at an advanced stage to borrow 23 aircraft, including full crew, from other UK and...

We’re all starting to realise that Hybrid doesn’t always have to mean boring. But Crave have brought to my knowledge a truly droolworthy hybrid motor. They’re at the Geneva Motor Show and got up close and personal with the gorgeous 918 Spyder. Instead of getting some hippies to chill out around the Stuttgart factory chatting about mother earth and eating lentils apparently Porsche’s team designed the 918 Spyder as a hybrid because adding some electric motors should give the car more kick. The 918 Spyder has a couple of electric motors powering the front wheels with a third, mounted near the gearbox in the middle driving the rear. You have the option to add the lovely assistance of the Spyder’s 500bhp, 3.8-litre V8 petrol engine should you...

Tourism business in Devon can carshare their way to a sustainable travel conference at South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh on Wednesday, March 10 from 11am to 3.30pm It’s organised by Devon County Council along with Visit Devon and the South West Regional Development Agency, and is intended to encourage visitors to Devon to travel more sustainable while on holiday – you know, buses and cycling and trains, and the like… The aim is to explore new ways of influencing visitor travel around Devon and to inspire organisations to provide guests with information on great days out without using the car. The conference will be chaired by Alistair Handyside, chairman of the South West Tourism. Speakers include: Anthony Climpson employment and tourism manager, of The New Forest. Anthony...

Blaze at South Bermondsey on Southeastern route shuts down services to London Bridge, Charing Cross and Cannon StreetThousands of London commuters faced delays this morning as three mainline train stations were closed due to a fire.Fire officers were called to a blaze near South Bermondsey train station on Debnams Road, south-east London, at 3am.A statement on the Southeastern trains website said trains were not stopping at London Bridge, Charing Cross or Cannon Street."St Pancras, Victoria and Blackfriars stations remain open," it said."Some services are being diverted to Victoria, however please allow additional time for your journey."A spokeswoman for the London Fire Brigade said 10 fire engines attended the blaze, which had affected a 10m high disused railway arch.Fifteen people were...

Bemused commuters filed past as the new recycling bins on Bromley South station were unveiled. SouthEastern railways will be rolling these bins out across the network so that the host of free newspapers, tins, drinks bottles and general rubbish can all be sent to their respective homes.Bromley in one of the top five recycling boroughs in London so this is a great way to add to their success....

Boris Johnson faces delaying improvements to London Underground, raising fares or cutting transport servicesBoris Johnson faces having to postpone improvements to the London Underground, raise fares or cut transport services as a row over a £400m tube funding gap comes to a head next week.Plans to put faster and more frequent trains on the Piccadilly line could be pushed back, while the capital's bus network could face cuts, having expanded significantly under Johnson's predecessor as London mayor, Ken Livingstone.The crunch has come because of a dispute between the public private partnership contractor carrying out the work, Tube Lines, and the mayor's transport body, Transport for London (TfL), over the cost of its works programme for the next seven-and-a-half years.The arbiter of the...

• £7.5bn contract for 1,400 new carriages will now be subject to independent review • Conservatives claim that Department for Transport has 'badly let down' passengersA £7.5bn contract to replace Britain's ageing intercity train fleet has been postponed after the government blamed the state of the debt markets and slow growth in passenger numbers for creating uncertainty over the deal.Rail industry sources claimed that the delay to a deal for 1,400 new carriages was the result of the dire state of the public finances and said it would leave some of Britain's busiest long-distance routes at the mercy of decades-old rolling stock.Ministers also confirmed that the second phase of a programme to extend trains on the west coast main line will not be carried out, despite an increase in...

The Class 507/508 is a train I associate with Merseyrail over many years of visiting Wirral. But, oddly, SouthEastern has one or two of them as well, though probably not for much longer. Currently they are operating on the Tunbridge Wells via Croydon service, and here is a pair of 508s at East...

Boeing 757 carrying British skiers home from Italy forced to turn back to Turin after fuel seen spewing from under wingA holiday charter jet flying British skiers home from Italy was forced to make an emergency landing yesterdayafter gallons of fuel started spewing from its right wing.Passengers panicked as they watched a thick, white trail of fuel fill the blue sky immediately after their Thomas Cook Boeing 757 took off from Turin's Caselle airport. Noticing the leak, the pilot alerted airport controllers who closed the airport and lined up fire engines along the runway as the plane circled before making an emergency landing."It was obvious we were losing fuel, particularly to those who were sat at the back on the right, and we are wondering if we would have enough to land," said one of...

Rise in retail income and landing fees offset fall in passenger numbers but write-down on UK's second-largest airport helped BAA to pre-tax loss of £822mBAA's sale of Gatwick airport last year carried a hefty financial cost, the group admitted today, as it reported an annual pre-tax loss of £821.9m.The airport owner's figures were hit by several non-cash charges including £277.3m of losses related to the sale of Britain's second-largest airport to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a US investment fund. The group chief executive, Colin Matthews, said the write-down reflected the fact that Gatwick was sold for less than its value on BAA's books. GIP, owner of City airport, paid £1.5bn for the Sussex airport.Matthews said: "We don't regret selling Gatwick. We got a good outcome but...

After all the pr0blems that snow has caused to the transport system in this country in recent months, I was amused by the following story: The harsh snowy weather continues to cause widespread disruption to train and public transport services on Monday. A Government Minister has called the situation a “catastrophe” arguing that National Rail has not been taking its full maintenance responsibility for a long period of time. The minister was also scathing of the way passengers have been treated over a weekend of delays and cancellations. “Information is decisive in such a chaotic situation and it has not been adequate. People are not receiving information when they are sitting on the platform,” she complained. The capital area is hardest hit with the local transport...

Power failure brings Paris to London service to halt, with staff using mobile phones as torchesEurostar officials were today investigating another train breakdown which left more than 700 people stranded in darkness last night as staff used mobile phones as torches.The power failed on the Paris to London service just south of Ashford, in Kent, at around 10.45pm because of a "major technical problem".More than 740 passengers had to climb down ladders onto the tracks and then climb into a replacement train which arrived alongside the failed train more than an hour later.Eurostar – heavily criticised for a series of pre-Christmas breakdowns that stranded thousands of passengers – apologised for the incident and said a full investigation was under way."We don't know exactly what happened...

Passengers have to transfer to a rescue train as under-fire service breaks down on the way into LondonEurostar suffered another setback last night after hundreds of passengers became stranded when a train broke down on its way into London.British Transport Police said a rescue train was sent out to pick up about 700 passengers after the train stopped running near Ashford in Kent at around 10pm.One passenger who was returning from France told Sky News from the train that it suddenly came to a stop and the lights on the train went out."It's getting fairly hot but people are very calm, very relaxed," he said.He said that the rescue train turned up shortly before midnight to take the passengers onwards to London.Eurostar said the train stopped following a "major technical problem", which had...

Listening to Tory transport spokesperson Theresa Villiers trying to explain on the Today programme why she couldn't take up Andrew Adonis's generous offer to give her early sight of his transport white paper and why she couldn't back a high-speed link to Birmingham - apparently it would undermine her commitment to yah-boo politics - I was struck by one extraordinary paradox in the Tories' approach to planning. After years of frustration, Labour sensibly established a fast-track planning mechanism to support large projects. Now Ms Villiers plans to undermine any chance of a UK high speed rail network a mere 20 years after our major competitors by handing the decision back to interminable planning inquiries. However, her saner colleague Michael Gove who has seen how such Nimbyism can impede...

Refusal to back London-Midlands plan shatters consensus on 200mph trainsThe Conservatives have refused to back a proposed 200mph London-to-Birmingham rail route in a move that shatters the political consensus over a high-speed train network.The transport secretary, Lord Adonis, has warned that the multibillion-pound infrastructure project must be "above politics" if it is to succeed. However, the Tories will not endorse a route proposal amid fears of a backlash from voters in the home counties and West Midlands whose homes may be blighted.Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, told the Guardian that the Conservatives had refused offers to view an advanced copy of the high-speed rail white paper, due to be published next month, which will be followed by a public consultation on...

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has been caught in flagrante delicto, or so it would seem. The Daily Telegraph reports that this department, specifically set up to tackle climate change has paid for more than 1,000 internal flights around Britain despite telling the public to cut down on air travel.However, or so we are told, this is somewhat mitigated by the Government using £35,000 of our money to buy indulgences carbon credits to offset the flights – but that isn't even the half of it.What we are not told is that the government is co-funding an EU project called CATCH headed by the transport consultancy MRC Mclean Hazel Limited, with the participation of the University of the West of England in Bristol and the public-funded Transport Research Laboratory.For €1.94...

East London factory could create up to 1,200 jobs and produce 16m gallons of green fuel a yearThe biojet fuel British Airways is planning to produce in its new plant in London has not yet been certified for use by the UK authorities, the airline has admitted to the Guardian.BA said today that it would build what is believed to be Europe's first plant to manufacture "biojet fuel" using food scraps and other waste in an attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft.But the airline admitted that the Ministry of Defence body, DStan, which regulates aviation fuel in Britain, has yet to grant approval. Officials want further tests to make sure aircraft safety and performance are not compromised by engines running on biojet fuel, rather than conventional 100% crude oil-based kerosene.BA...

A locomotive trundles out of Yaroslavsky Station, Moscow. This is the Trans Siberian and it’s bound for Vladivostok, more than 9,000 kilometres distant. It is a journey which will take more than 150 hours to complete. And now you can take the trip without a Russia Visa, without negotiating Komsomolskaya Square, its dubious cast of characters or its pervading smell of urea and without the risk of sharing your carriage with a pair of alcoholic migrant workers. Google have introduced the ‘virtual’ Trans Siberian, courtesy of Google maps and an awful lot of Youtube footage. Listen to Gogol’s Dead Souls, stare out the window and enjoy. But whatever happens, you’re not going to be able to get off at any of the stations and you‘ll have to visit your own kettle, rather than the...

• Company had no coping plan for tunnel breakdown• Staff service appalling, with one car 'an open toilet'With its staff "in hiding" and both ­temperatures and panic rising, there were few worse places to be than aboard the "Disney train" during the Eurostar's pre-Christmas debacle.Five trains had broken down deep in the Channel tunnel on 18 December. But, said the authors of a report released today examining the causes of the ensuing chaos, "of all the trains to really get in a mess, this was the worst train that you could imagine".The plight of passengers aboard train 9057 has been highlighted in a damning 87-page summary of an independent inquiry, commissioned after the Eurostar "meltdown" in heavy snow.The December incident led to 2,500 people trapped in trains, and 100,000...

Eurostar maintenance procedures were insufficient to deal with the wintry weather leading to train breakdowns, says report• Read the full reportEurostar had "no plan in place" to deal with the travel chaos created by the breakdown of five trains in the Channel tunnel, an independent report into the pre-Christmas debacle said today.Passengers endured overflowing toilets on trains, hot or cold conditions and darkness for hours on end. Eurostar should have been better prepared to cope with the disruption, the report said.The high-speed train company had to improvise and its "provision of information to customers was inadequate", after snow sucked into the power cars quickly melted in the tunnel causing electronic components to fail..The report's authors made 21 recommendations, saying...

Met Office warns of hazardous driving conditions as parts of Kent and Sussex suffer heavy snow showersRoad organisations and the Met Office today warned of hazardous driving conditions as many families were heading off for the half-term getaway.Yesterday, parts of Kent and East Sussex received their most disruptive snowfalls of the winter with up to 25cm (10in) – and more wintry showers are forecast.A mix of snow, sleet and rain is expected across eastern England today and tomorrow. Temperatures will stay cold over the weekend with freezing overnight temperatures and a biting wind in easterly areas.The Met Office warned of widespread ice today in south-eastern counties and eastern England north of the Wash.The AA said main routes were likely to be busier than usual as many schools break...

Listening this morning to various reports of the snow in the East of Kent, one recurring theme from everyone outside of the county establishment was, where were the gritting lorries yesterday afternoon and early evening? BBC’s South East Today, programme tonight showed us plenty of pretty pictures of snow, they even had a reporter hire a helicopter, to take a gander at this strange rarely seen phenomena (It must be two or three weeks since we last saw snow) at the end of we had two presenters smile in what looked to me similar to, the affected, self conscious silly style of children's TV presenters, they even had what I thought a few rather patronising glance at photos sent in by viewers. Nothing wrong with any of that surely, but the one thing that does matter is that the...

One tends to forget about the Waterloo and City line. Even though it's just a stone's throw from where I sit, I think I've only used it about twice in 60 years. I suppose it's rarely of any use to people who actually live in London, its target market consisting entirely of commuters into Waterloo main line.This video clip reminds us that it used to be run by BR and was not part of the London Underground, and for a brief period its trains bore Network SouthEast colours, something I had quite...

Here in Thanet we are apparently experiencing a mass hallucination, those like myself who thought they were driving on ice, must be delusional since if you happened to listen to BBC Radio Kent this morning County Councillor Nick Chard seemed to be claiming that all major roads had been treated, which had that been the case, would have helped keep our roads safe for driving on last night.John Warnett (BBC Radio) could have just clarified the issue by asking Cllr Chard, exactly when did you grit these roads?Anyway if anyone actually saw one Kent’s gritting lorries yesterday afternoon or even early this morning (before 6am) please do tell.I heard recently that Kent council has had to pay out for pothole damage to cars, if there are any lawyers reading this, maybe you could tell me and my...

The buses. Where would we be without ‘em, eh? Surely all life is there. I’ve often secretly been grateful that I’ve spent so very flipping much tine on them, because I just kind of seem to know things that my car-driving friends have no clue about. So now that I have no travelcard, I have been trying  (with mixed success – they are simply so much slower, and even without a job one so often finds oneself in a hurry) to limit my travel as far as possible to the unreliable red things. Today, though, coming home from a job interview and an agency interview, I was lucky enough, after a mere 20 minutes or so of waiting in Theobalds Road, to get a good old 243. Massive diversions, and roadworks – London is being chewed up at the moment as if by some mega-hydra...

Cold weather and heavy snow forecast for parts of UK and conditions set to worsen later in the weekBitterly cold weather has returned to the UK and forecasters warn that conditions will worsen later in the week with a warning of heavy snow for parts of the south-east.Last night temperatures again plunged below zero in some parts of the country with biting winds and snow flurries adding to the chill. There are fears that grit supplies nationwide have not been replenished since the cold snap in January, raising the prospect of further difficulties for motorists.The Met Office warned there could be heavy snow in the south-east England later in the week with as much as 15cm on high ground. It issued an early warning for heavy and possibly drifting snow for east Sussex, Kent and Medway for...

BA chief executive Willie Walsh says further cost-cutting and 'permanent structural change' are needed to combat rising fuel costs and low revenuesBritish Airways warned cabin crew that permanent change is needed this morning as the airline confirmed that it is on track for a record full-year loss after announcing a nine-month deficit of £342m.The airline's boss, Willie Walsh, said further cost-cutting was needed as rising fuel costs and low revenues continue to trouble the industry. However, BA surprised the City by reporting a third-quarter operating profit of £50m in the run-up to Christmas, when analysts were expecting an operating deficit of up to £100m.Embroiled in a dispute with cabin crew over staffing levels, BA nonetheless highlighted its poor performance in the financial...

Highland and Islands Airports Ltd are due to introduce parking charges at Stornoway airport very shortly.I don't have the details of the actual charges, but I am told that the Comhairle's objections/observations have been brushed aside by HIAL, on the grounds that the Comhairle have already introduced parking charges in Percival Square.More details to follow...

With over half the MPs expected to have to repay some expenses, I look forward to the full list of those who were on the fiddle have looted the public purse for private expenditure are unable to accurately complete an expenses form by themselves.But what has happened about our MP's travel expenses that were in dispute, and on which he sought guidance after the event (or possibly clarification of an alleged earlier piece of advice)?I an told (not highly reliably it must be admitted) that they have been refused, as the journey could have been done in a single day, and hence the overnight expenses were unapproved.I am also told that this decision is being appealed, again, but hopefully we will have clarity in the coming...

I don’t know if anybody has seen those insipid Air New Zealand adverts at London Bridge station. Basically you get one of their Stewardesses or Stewards acting like a 7 year old pretending to dance whilst doing the safety brief or pretending they are Charlies Angels or something. Now maybe I’m not their target market but I want somebody who isn’t a fucking idiot responsible for my safety on board an aircraft, since air travel is just a tad riskier than other forms of transport*. I also want them to serve me some edible food, give me a seat number and refrain from selling me some scratch cards – obviously that’s you O’leary you wanker. I also don’t want them to go on strike – Memo to BA, you workshy Bolshevik tosspots, but all these come a distant second to crashing into a...

While European train users get exemplary service, British rail bosses splash out on Highland estatesAnyone who loves the beautiful Argyll coast south of Tayvallich will know that the Edinburgh estate agents Rettie & Co were not exaggerating when they described the peninsula's Keills Estate as "a rural idyll". With Loch Sween on one side and the sea on the other, with views from its beaches to Islay and Jura, with deer-stalking and fishing rights open to negotiation, Rettie confidently expected a wealthy buyer to snap up the property.They were not disappointed. Iain Coucher already had a company flat in central London and a comfortable house in the Midlands, but he couldn't resist adding to his property portfolio. For just under £1m, he bought three-quarters of the estate, including a...

Ah, the joy of train travel – you buy your ticket, possibly costing you a small fortune unless booked in advance, only to discover you’re chucked off the train and onto a bus if there are repairs being made to the line. Well, no more, says Norman Baker, the Lib Dems’ shadow transport secretary. Stormin’ Norm is proposing that the Lib Dems would radically overhaul Network Rail, replacing its executives with a ‘Public Interest Board’ made up of representatives of customer watchdog Passenger Focus, the Local Government Association and independent experts. They would be charged with putting the interests of passengers first, and making the organisation more more accountable and transparent – including refunding passengers who are forced on to rail replacement...

This from TransportXtra:In an unusual step for a transport consultant, Colin Buchanan has spelt out its transport vision for the capital in response to the Mayor's draft transport strategy.The consultant is criticial of some of the mayor's priorities, such as the plan to scrap the western extension of the central London congestion charge, replace bendy buses and commission a new bus design for the capital. “In the present financial circumstances the mayor needs all the sources of revenue possible and not to incur expenditure which provides no improvement in transport services, for example the replacement Routemaster,” said Colin Buchanan chairman Andreas Markides.I agree with both those points, as I have written before. The abolition of the western extension to the charging zone is...

Union says British Airways' strike-breaking workforce would replace only 2% of airline's cabin crew British Airways could be reduced to operating only a few flights during a cabin crew walkout after claims that its strike-breaking workforce has just 216 volunteers.The Unite trade union said that a programme to retrain employees as air stewards during industrial action would replace less than 2% of the airline's cabin crew. The recruitment initiative, which Unite has condemned as a "scab labour" drive, began yesterday as about 12,000 cabin crew started voting on a walkout over staff cuts. The ballot closes on 22 February, and the earliest possible strike date is 1 March, although Unite has already ruled out an Easter walkout.The Unite official leading the dispute said BA would be unable to...

With the website down, and the BBC reporting an urgent meeting between staff and management it appears that my prediction was right, although I deliberately did not identify the firm.Phone calls and emails over the weekend updated me on the position, and I am told that the administrators are being appointed this morning, after last minute negotiations over finance stalled.What will happen to the scheduled flights, and especially the vital hospital shuttle between Benbecula and Stornoway?I understand that the flights will continue to be run by the administrators in the short-term until the company's situtation is fully understood, but I also understand that the expectation is that the route will be handed to another operator as soon as it practicable.Sad news, which reduces our choices for...