Transport RSS feed for the Transport tag
found 335 stories.
Business
Express & Star 26 Jan 11
The Wrexham & Shropshire train company is to close on Friday with the loss of 55 jobs blaming falling customers numbers due to the economic downturn for the decision.
When it was launched less than three years ago, restoring direct services to the capital after a gap of 41 years, trains stopped at 10 stations between Wrexham and London, including Shrewsbury, Telford, Cosford and Tame Bridge Parkway on the border of Walsall and Sandwell…
Business
BBC News 26 Jan 11
More than 1,000 jobs may be created in the West Midlands as part of development plans for the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail link.
There have been proposals to turn the former LDV site in Birmingham into a maintenance headquarters for the rail line, possibly creating up to 250 jobs…
Business
Jon Griffin B'ham Mail 26 Jan 11
Chiltern Railways, the firm behind the £250 million upgrade of a key Birmingham passenger route has a new man at the helm – with a brief to cut journey times to London.
Rob Brighouse is the new managing director of Chiltern Railways, which runs the Birmingham Moor Street to Marylebone route…
News PR
Centro 19 Jan 11
Users of the region’s Ring and Ride service are being asked to help decide the best way of overcoming a shortfall in funding for the coming year.
West Midlands council tax payers have paid £12.1 million towards the cost of running Ring and Ride this year but for the financial year starting in April substantial savings of £900,000 are required.
The shortfall is a result of a possible seven per cent cut in grant due the financial pressures on the seven West Midlands district councils following cuts to their funding over the next three years, plus dramatic cost increases in items like fuel.
Bosses at West Midlands Special Needs Transport, the charity which provides the service, and transport authority Centro, which funds Ring and Ride on behalf of the district councils, are now appealing to users of the door-to-door transport service to help decide how to make those savings.
More than 30,000 users are being sent a questionnaire asking them to vote for one of two options:
+ Making an eight per cent reduction in the number of trips being run which could see the withdrawal of some services in the evenings and/or other times of the day.
+ Introducing charges in the form of either:
An annual membership fee of £36 – the equivalent of 69p a week or
A single trip fare of 60p (£1.20 for a return trip)
Centro’s chief executive Geoff Inskip, said…
News
Express & Star 31 Dec 10
Bus and train passengers will be hit with a double whammy of inflation-busting fares this weekend as companies impose big rises. Sunday’s increases come just two days before the cost of petrol is also expected to soar, with the VAT rise hitting every form of transport.
A public backlash against the rises, which in some cases are three times the rate of inflation, began today with the launch of a national petition…
Business
B'ham Mail 24 Dec 10
More than 3,750 bus drivers across the West Midlands have been offered a pay rise of just 1.5 per cent – as their company rakes in profits of £80,000 a day.
A New Year wage battle is on the cards at Birmingham-based transport giant National Express after the firm tabled the initial offer to Unite the union.
Details of the pay talks emerged just days after the Mail revealed that the region’s biggest bus operator was on track for a £9 million profits surge this year, pushing up earnings from £20 million for 2009 to £29 million…
News
Express & Star 11 Dec 10
More than 150 Boxing Day bus services will run throughout the Black Country this year, transport bosses have said.
It is hoped the high number of services will bring more bargain-hunter shoppers out into the town centres and help to provide a boost for trade in the region.
Services running in the West Midlands on Boxing Day include:
10 Brownhills & Walsall
19 Walsall & Bloxwich
51 Walsall & Birmingham
x51 Walsall & Birmingham
56a Birmingham & Brownhills
301 Walsall & Mossley
302 Walsall & Lower Farm
311 Walsall & Dudley
313 Walsall & Dudley
332 Walsall & Lodge Farm
333 Walsall & Wolverhampton
334 Walsall & Bilston
370 Walsall & Bloxwich
405 West Bromwich & Walsall
529 Walsall & Wolverhampton
908 Walsall & Bloxwich
997 Walsall & Birmingham
Business
Edward Chadwick B'ham Mail 15 Dec 10
National Express has announced that bus tickets will rise by as much as 9.5 per cent from January – the second hike on fares in just eight months when they return to work after Christmas.
The news will be a blow to passengers who faced inflation-busting increases last June. Daysaver fares will rise from £3.50 to £3.60 – up a total of 30 pence on last year’s price – while a single will cost £1.80 compared to £1.70…
Business
Justine Halifax B'ham Post 8 Dec 10
Campaigners battling to thwart the proposed route of Britain’s second high speed railway through Staffordshire are celebrating after it emerged planners had rejected part of the route that threatened to blight their homes.
It comes after Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher revealed HS2 engineers have confirmed that Hopwas Ridge is not an option…
Business
B'ham Mail 8 Dec 10
A new train intended to cut overcrowding on rail journeys between Birmingham and London is sitting gathering dust following a row between Virgin Trains and the Government.
The Pendolino tilting train, similar to those already running on the West Coast Main Line, has been delivered to a Virgin depot in Liverpool. And three more trains – along with 62 carriages to be added to the existing fleet – are due to arrive next year.
But Virgin, which runs the service from London to Birmingham and Manchester, is refusing to use the trains or carriages…