
Uber agrees to 'co-brand' Channel Tunnel trains through Ebbsfleet
Andrew Brem, Uber's UK general manager, said: "We've seen amazing momentum since we began launching new modes of transport in the UK, and this collaboration with Gemini Trains is our latest step in how we're helping people get where they want to go."Gemini is planning to buy 10 new trains for its services, one of several planned competitors to Eurostar.The company announced in March that it had been developing its plans for two years and had submitted an application to regulator the Office of Rail and Road for access to Eurostar's Temple Mills maintenance depot in north-east London.Other organisations developing proposals to launch rival services include billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Italy's state-owned railway company FS Italiane Group.Eurostar stopped calling at Ebbsfleet and Ashford in March 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.Despite local pressure for services to resume, the company has said it is focusing on its core routes.Gemini Trains chief executive Adrian Quine said it was "really exciting" to be teaming up with Uber.
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The Independent
7 minutes ago
- The Independent
UK transport secretary demands answers from air traffic control chief after flight disruption
Britain's transport chief has summoned the head of the country's air traffic control operator to explain the problem that grounded and diverted dozens of flights Wednesday. More than 150 flights were cancelled across the U.K. as a result of what the National Air Traffic Service, or NATS, described as a 'technical issue' at the Swanwick control center that forced it to limit the number of aircraft in the London area. The problem was reported at 4:05 p.m Wednesday and the system was fully operational by 5:10 p.m., NATS said. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will meet with NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe on Thursday to 'understand what happened and how we can prevent reoccurrence.'' 'The transport secretary is summoning in today the chief executive of of NATS to help us get to the bottom of what went wrong yesterday,'' Business Minister Gareth Thomas told Times Radio. 'Clearly, an incident happened two years ago and measures were taken then. It looks like those measures weren't enough, but we need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened, and conversations will take place today.' Among those hit was British Airways, which said the problem forced the carrier to reduce the rate of flights from 45 to 32 per hour for more than two hours. While airlines expressed frustration over flight disruptions, industry experts said it was 'unrealistic' to expect an air traffic management system could function without any technical failures. 'There are technical failures in all industries,' Graham Lake, a former director general of the air traffic management industry association Canso, told the BBC. 'I'm a regular rail user, certainly there are signal failures practically every day, so we accept technical failures. Radio programs go off the air occasionally, technical failures are inevitable. The point is that you have to … plan the contingency and make sure that the operation remains safe and effective.'' The NATS system has suffered several software-related failures since it opened in 2002. A glitch in August 2023 resulted in flight plans being processed manually rather than automatically. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled at the height of the summer holidays, affecting some 700,000 passengers.


The Independent
7 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rolls-Royce shrugs off tariff pressures as profits soar
Rolls-Royce has revealed soaring profits as strong demand for its engines offset supply chain challenges and tariffs. Shares in the company surged to a new record level on Thursday morning as a result. The FTSE 100 firm said the results showed continued success in the long-term transformation plan first laid out by the company in 2023. On Thursday, the engineering giant revealed that underlying operating profits jumped by 50% to £1.7 billion for the first half of 2025. Rolls-Royce raised its financial forecasts for 2025 as a result, predicting underlying operating profits between £3.1 billion and £3.2 billion this year. It represents a significant upgrade after previously pointing towards profits between £2.7 billion and £2.9 billion. Rolls-Royce, which makes engines used in large Boeing and Airbus planes, said it was supported by a 'strong' performance in its large engines business, as well as margin improvements on contracts. The company said underlying revenues in its civil aerospace arm grew by 17%, with growth of 20% in its power systems division. The London-listed business cheered the 'strong' performance in the face of 'an uncertain external environment, including continued supply chain challenges and tariffs'. It said Rolls-Royce is expecting to fully offset the impact of announced US tariffs through mitigating actions and is also monitoring the potential indirect impact of weaker economic growth and trade tensions. Rolls-Royce also highlighted 'some improvement' in its supply chain, resulting in improvement availability for finished parts, but recorded inflationary pressure in product costs. Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of the company said: 'Our multi-year transformation continues to deliver. Our actions led to strong first half year results, despite the challenges of the supply chain and tariffs. 'We are continuing to expand the earnings and cash potential of Rolls-Royce. 'A strong start to the year gives us confidence to raise our guidance for 2025.' Rolls-Royce shares were 9% higher at 1,077p on Thursday morning.


The Independent
7 minutes ago
- The Independent
Transport Secretary to meet Nats head after air traffic control glitch
The head of the air traffic control provider Nats is being hauled in to meet the Transport Secretary after thousands of passengers were disrupted when a technical glitch grounded flights across the UK. Heidi Alexander said that she will meet with Martin Rolfe to 'understand what happened and how we can prevent reoccurrence' as more than 150 flights were cancelled on Wednesday. Airlines have demanded answers after thousands of passengers attempting to fly in and out of the country faced major disruption. Airports saw 84 departures and 71 arrivals cancelled as of 10pm on Wednesday – with the highest number of cancellations at London's Heathrow Airport – while a number of inbound flights were also diverted to European cities. In a post on X on Thursday morning, Ms Alexander said that 'Nats are working closely with airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely and look after passengers'. She added: 'I will be meeting the Nats chief executive today to understand what happened and how we can prevent reoccurrence.' The 'technical issue' responsible for the disruption was at Nats's control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, according to the company. It first announced problems at around 4pm on Wednesday, and in an update an hour later said systems were fully operational and that departures had resumed at all airports. Ryanair called on Mr Rolfe to resign in the wake of the fault, claiming 'no lessons have been learnt' since the August 2023 system outage. The airline's chief operating officer Neal McMahon said: 'It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe's continued mismanagement of Nats.' Business minister Gareth Thomas was asked whether Mr Rolfe will be 'fired' over the incident. He told Times Radio: 'We are summoning – the Transport Secretary (Heidi Alexander) is summoning – in today the chief executive of of Nats to help us get to the bottom of what went wrong yesterday. 'Clearly, an incident happened two years ago and measures were taken then. 'It looks like those measures weren't enough but we need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened, and conversations will take place today.' A former industry chief has said that it is 'unrealistic' to expect an air traffic management system where there is no technical failure. Graham Lake, former director-general of air traffic management industry association Canso, told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'If you look at the minutes of outage over a period of years, your availability – system availability – is, frankly, very, very good. So, I think it's unrealistic to expect a system where you have no technical failure.' He added: 'The failure yesterday was short and sweet, if you like, the recovery was quick – aircraft were operating again very, very quickly.'