transport

31 Oct 23

Network Rail to spend an extra £600m on infrastructure upgrades

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) called for the extra money during its response to NR’s proposed £43.1bn spending plans for the five-year period from 1 April 2024. NR said the previous spending period was especially tumultuous due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw a 95 per cent drop-off…

27 Oct 23

Cruise removes robotaxis from San Francisco following accident

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The company lost its licence to operate its robotaxis in the city after being accused of “misrepresenting” the safety of the technology and withholding information from regulators. The safety of Cruise’s driverless taxis came into question earlier this month, following an accident in which one of its cars rolled over…

04 Oct 23

Sunak axes northern leg of HS2, but promises billions for transport links

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

After weeks of speculation, Sunak confirmed the scrapping of “the rest of the HS2 project” during his closing speech at the Conservative Party conference, held in a former train station in Manchester. Sunak explained his decision to scrap any HS2 connection that is not in the London–Birmingham leg as a…

25 Sep 23

Backlash builds over possible scrapping of HS2 Manchester link

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The government is facing criticism from politicians, industry groups and two former Conservative prime ministers over concerns it could decide to cancel the Northern link of the High Speed 2 (HS2) line. The news was first reported by The Independent, which claimed the government had already spent £2.3bn on stage…

20 Sep 23

Edinburgh tram project suffered ‘litany of avoidable failures’, inquiry finds

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (Tie), the delivery company set up and wholly owned by City of Edinburgh Council, has been accused of incurring a “litany of avoidable failures”, which caused delays and increased the costs of building Edinburgh’s tram. The tram line runs an 8.7 mile (14km) route from Edinburgh Airport…

19 Sep 23

Lack of charging points and subsidies dampens consumer demand for EVs

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), an industry body, find that EVs will command nearly 18 per cent of the new car market by the end of the year. Fleets of corporate vehicles are leading the electric transition, but the end of incentives for…

08 Sep 23

Rural areas get first dibs on £129m fund for new zero-emission buses

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

It has prioritised the first £25m for rural communities where building the infrastructure needed for the buses is more expensive. The Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) 2 scheme is now open for bids from all local authorities in England outside London, with applications to be prioritised from those that…

06 Sep 23

Airbus, easyJet, Rolls-Royce partner to promote hydrogen-powered flying

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The HIA alliance aims to position Britain at the forefront of hydrogen-powered aviation, it said. Members include easyJet, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Ørsted, GKN Aerospace and Bristol Airport. The goal of the partnership is to ensure that the UK puts in place the infrastructure, policy, regulatory and safety frameworks needed to be…

01 Sep 23

Rented electric scooters removed from Paris as ban enters into force

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Electric scooter operators have removed all their 15,000 vehicles from the streets of Paris following a controversial public vote. Five years after it become the first city in Europe to open to the e-scooter market, the French capital has also become the first to end the experiment after residents voted…

29 Aug 23

‘Technical issue’ causes travel chaos across UK airports

Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said the technical fault was “identified and remedied” on Monday evening, but “significant disruptions” are set to continue over the next few days as airlines work to clear the flight backlog. The technical problem was revealed at 12.15pm on Monday, causing staff to…