Category Archives: Transport

Rozelle interchange: hundreds of residents vent frustration over traffic chaos as inquiry begins

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Survey reveals locals’ disappointment with NSW transport agency’s response after bungled opening of $3.9bn junction

Hundreds of Sydney residents have vented their frustration about the traffic chaos caused by the Rozelle interchange in a survey released on the first day of an inquiry into the $3.9bn junction.

The majority of the 1,034 people who participated in the survey said the interchange had negatively affected them since it opened last November, with many voicing their disappointment at the New South Wales transport agency’s response.

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Two passenger planes clip wings on Heathrow runway

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Footage on social media shows wing of Virgin Atlantic plane overlapping wing of BA aircraft

Two passenger planes clipped wings on the runway while one of the aircraft was being towed at Heathrow.

Footage on social media shows the wing of a Virgin Atlantic plane overlapping the wing of a British Airways aircraft while emergency services surround the area at the UK’s busiest airport.

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Train drivers in England begin three-day series of strikes

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Avanti West Coast services among those affected by Aslef industrial action, which continues on Saturday and Monday

Rail passengers across England will face significant disruption on Friday as train drivers at five operating companies carry out industrial action.

The 24-hour strike will be the first of three days of rolling strike action being taken by the train drivers’ union Aslef, with services on Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway all affected.

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Liquid restrictions at UK airports to remain in place until June 2025

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Travellers will have to wait another year for 100ml limit to be lifted after government extends deadline for new scanners

Holidaymakers will continue to face limits on the amount of liquid they can carry on flights out of the UK this summer after the government extended the deadline for airports to install new security scanners by a year.

The Department for Transport had previously set a target for the introduction of 3D scanners in all UK airports by 1 June, but this has now been extended by 12 months because some major airports will not be ready in time.

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Network Rail to spend £2.8bn to cope with effects of climate crisis

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Funding for drains, embankments and other measures is part £45.4bn five-year investment plan

Network Rail is to spend nearly £3bn to protect the railway from the effects of the climate crisis and extreme weather, as it warned that the country’s network was having to contend with hotter summers and increased winter floods.

As part of its new £45.4bn five-year investment plan, the body in charge of Great Britain’s rail network will spend £2.8bn over the next five years on activities and technology to help it cope with the impact of climate change.

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UK weather warnings for wind and rain issued in run-up to Easter weekend

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Met Office says unsettled conditions could disrupt travel and pose danger to life in parts of Northern Ireland and southern England

Heavy rain and strong winds could disrupt travel and pose a risk to life in the run-up to the Easter weekend, forecasters have said.

The Met Office issued yellow warnings across parts of Northern Ireland and the south of England.

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Labor unveils watered-down fuel efficiency standard that eases emission rules for large SUVs

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Bill to be introduced to parliament this week will incentivise carmakers to import cleaner vehicles

The Albanese government has watered down flagship new laws aimed at disincentivising the use of high-polluting cars and hastening the importation of cleaner vehicles amid pressure from the auto industry.

On Tuesday the transport minister, Catherine King, and the energy minister, Chris Bowen, revealed the details of compromise bill to be introduced to parliament this week, with the changes largely easing rules for popular large SUVs.

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At least 14m Easter car journeys could take twice as long as usual, RAC says

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Bank holiday weekend and start of school holidays take place at same time, with high traffic volumes expected

Drivers are being warned to expect long delays over Easter as millions of getaway trips lead to soaring traffic volumes and congested motorways.

The RAC said that more than 14m journeys on some popular routes could take twice as long as normal, as the first bank holiday weekend of the spring coincides with the start of a two-week holiday for many schools.

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Heathrow Border Force staff vote to strike in dispute over shift patterns

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No dates announced for industrial action, but stoppages could begin as soon as 8 April, says PCS union

Border Force staff at Heathrow have voted to strike in a dispute over shift patterns.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said 600 of its members, who carry out immigration controls and passport checks, voted 90% in favour of strike action.

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Australia politics live: Steven Miles says Suncorp Stadium will host Brisbane Olympics opening and closing ceremonies

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Follow the day’s news live

‘There’ll be a lot of people grieving today’

Both Barnaby Joyce and Tanya Plibersek were asked about soldier Jack Fitzgibbon, the son of former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon.

The Fitzgibbon family are a family of honour. Jack died in service to our nation. Joel has served our nation. The family will be absolutely grieving. We hope and pray Jack is with our maker, give comfort to them. You’ve seen the Fitzgibbons, you’ve watched them on television. They’re a great family. He is also my mate. We’ll turn up and give what support we can to Jack’s family.

It’s just the worst thing that any parent can imagine and so our hearts go out to Joel and Diane and their family and the friends and comrades that Jack had in the service as well. We know there’ll be a lot of people grieving today.

Well, first of all, of course it’s not on government devices in Australia either. We’ve got a ban here in Australia on government devices. But there are 8.5 million Australians who are using it.

We’ll take the advice of our security and intelligence agencies on anything we need to do around TikTok. I think people should be careful of the data that they put online in general. Like I say, if the security and intelligence agencies give us advice on TikTok, we’ll take it.

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Uber to pay $272m compensation in settlement with Australian taxi drivers

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Rideshare company agrees to settle long-running class-action lawsuit, finally giving cab and hire-car drivers the compensation they deserve, lawyers say

Uber will cough up almost $272m to compensate taxi and hirecar drivers who lost out when the rideshare company “aggressively” moved into the Australian market.

A class action against Uber was expected to go to trial in the supreme court of Victoria on Monday but judge Lisa Nichols vacated it after the rideshare giant agreed to the $271.8m settlement.

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M25 five-mile closure: drivers warned to steer clear over weekend

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Roadworks mean stretch between junctions 10 and 11 will be closed for first time, from 9pm on Friday to 6am on Monday

Drivers have been warned to steer well clear, turn off the satnav and stick to the official diversions as some of the biggest roadworks since the Romans results in part of the M25 motorway fully closed for the first time in its history this weekend.

Epic traffic jams are anticipated, with a five-mile stretch of Britain’s busiest motorway, the London orbital motorway, closed for engineering from 9pm on Friday.

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Hollywood connection: Wrexham lines up three-hour direct rail service to London

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Train maker Alstom plans fast service skirting Birmingham as Ryan Reynolds’ football club takeover reaps in ever more benefits

Direct trains could next year connect Wrexham to London, with a new service capitalising on the town’s Hollywood-meets-football mini-boom.

The train manufacturer Alstom is bidding to set up the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway with a promise of cheaper, more comfortable trains straight to London.

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Peak motorist body requests clarity on Albanese government’s proposed clean car policy

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Automobile Association wants to see the calculations behind national vehicle efficiency standards

The nation’s peak motorist organisation has called on the Albanese government to release in full the modelling underpinning its proposed new laws aimed at removing the worst polluting cars from Australian roads and hastening the uptake of cleaner vehicles.

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA), in its submission responding to the government’s proposed national vehicle efficiency standard (NVES), reiterated it has long supported such a scheme. But it said Labor should “be more transparent” about how it arrived at the calculations supporting its preferred, more ambitious targets.

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Children at risk as Australia lags behind other countries on car seat safety, experts say

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Road crash deaths are the leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 13 in Australia and experts say many could be prevented with better restraints

Leading child safety experts are calling for regulations around child car restraints to be brought into line with the medical evidence and similar countries worldwide, saying that “a large proportion” of Australian children are being put in danger of life-altering traumatic injuries or death every day due to inappropriate use of car and booster seats.

The calls come as the state and federal ministers for transport undertake a review of Australia’s child restraint rules, which have been condemned as out of step with safe practice guidelines.

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Health gains of low-traffic schemes up to 100 times greater than costs, study finds

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Research looked at three London boroughs to value overall health benefits of active travel over 20 years at up to £4,800 per head

Policies to help people walk and cycle such as low-traffic neighbourhoods can create public health benefits as much as 100 times greater than the cost of the schemes, a long-term study of active travel measures has concluded.

The research, based on six years of surveys among thousands of people living in three outer London boroughs that introduced LTNs or similar schemes, found they tended to prompt people to switch some trips from cars to active travel, although the effects were varied.

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Australian households under pressure as cost of car travel rises at triple the rate of inflation

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Drivers in capital cities faced increases of 12.4% in 2023 while the average driver in regional areas was hit with a 13.7% rise

Australian households are under increasing budget pressure when it comes to car travel as transport costs balloon to three times the inflation rate.

The typical household’s transport costs rose by about 13% in 2023, outpacing the inflation rate of 4.1%.

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UK weather: Met Office issues yellow warning for snow in west of England

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Alert says there could be ‘tricky driving conditions in a few places’ after unexpectedly cold overnight temperatures

An unexpected cold snap has prompted the Met Office to issue a yellow weather warning after snow fell across parts of the west of England.

The warning covered an area from south of Bristol to north of Worcester, and extends to Hereford to the west and Swindon to the east.

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Rail fares to rise by 4.9% in England and Wales on Sunday

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In London, Tube and bus fares are being frozen and prices reduced during rush hour and on Fridays

Rail fares in England and Wales will rise by 4.9% on Sunday, adding hundreds of pounds to annual travel costs for many commuters.

Campaigners said passengers would be “rightly angry” at the latest increase, above the current inflation rate of 4%, despite the government arguing that it had made a significant intervention to keep the fare rise down.

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Former NSW government accused of ‘pork barrelling at public’s expense’ after scathing audit

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The $5bn post-pandemic spending program ‘not informed by robust research or analysis’ auditor general finds

Labor has accused the former New South Wales Coalition government of “pork barrelling at the public’s expense” after the auditor general found the design of a $5bn scheme to funnel money into areas worst hit by Covid lockdowns “lacked integrity”.

In a report released on Wednesday, Margaret Crawford found that more than $1bn was allocated to “low or moderate merit” infrastructure projects in western Sydney as part of the massive post-pandemic spending program WestInvest.

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