Weekly news round-up - 3 October 2014

Tube extension for London, new bridge for Glasgow and HS2 rail college for Birmingham and Doncaster.

Jackie Whitelaw
03 October 2014

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1. Transport for London is consulting on extending the Bakerloo line from Elephant & Castle station through Southwark towards Lewisham, Bromley and Hayes. It is considering two options for the tunnelled section between Elephant & Castle and New Cross Gate. Find out more here 

2. A new £50M bridge, funded from the £500M City Deal cash agreed in August,  has been proposed across the River Clyde in Glasgow to link Yoker, in the west of the city, with Renfrew and slash travel times to Glasgow Airport. Renfrewshire Council is leading the multi million pound project, which is expected to begin in 2018 or 2019.

3. High speed trains celebrated their 50th birthday this week; Japan’s Shinkansen network started operation on 1 October 1964 and has carried over 10bn passengers since.

4. VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Costain have won the £82M job to build the Shieldhall tunnel in Glasgow for Scottish Water. The 5km long, 4.7m diameter structure will be largest wastewater storage tunnel in Scotland and is designed to improve water quality and help cope with the risk of flooding in the city and pollution of the River Clyde. Scottish Water is to spend over £3.5bn in the next six years.

5. Stonehills roundabout on A38 in Gloucestershire has been named best in the country by the Roundabout Appreciation Society. It’s centerpiece is a 4m wicker statue of a knight on horseback, designed to commemorate the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 during the Wars of the Roses. 

6. London has been ranked the best city in the world -- after being judged on levels of health, safety, security, the economy and transport. The capital beat other world cities such as New York, Singapore and Paris to come top of Price Waterhouse Cooper’s “cities of opportunities” index for the first time.

7. Renewable electricity projects will compete for £300M Contracts for Difference funding support this autumn – an increase of £95M from the indicative budget published in July, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey announced today. Less established technologies such as offshore wind and marine schemes will get £235M of the money.

8. The HS2 rail college is to be split between two locations, with the headquarters based in Birmingham’s city centre Science Park and another college at Doncaster’s Lakeside Campus.

9. Professor John Loughhead has been appointed DECC’s chief scientific advisor. He is currently Executive Director at UK Energy Research Centre. 

10. Network Rail missed the efficiency target promised for the 2009-2014 control period (CP4) by 8%, achieving 15.5% rather than 23.5%, the Office of Rail Regulation has said, though this was in part due to taking on extra work. Target for the next five years is a further 20% cut in costs.