A joint venture between Carillion and Morgan Sindall has bagged the £100m contract for the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road scheme. Subject to planning approval, construction of the 10km road is expected to take place between October 2014 and May 2017. The civil engineering work is estimated to be [...]

A new group has been formed with the five major freight operating companies and Network Rail to deliver sustainable improvements for the sector. The Rail Freight Alliance has been endorsed by the Rail Delivery Group, with a new framework and set of strategy objectives agreed. The group aims to deliver [...]

Renewable lipids based biofuels are an important tool to address issues raised by policies put in place in order to reduce the dependence of transportation sector on fossil fuels and to promote the development of nonfood based, sustainable and eco-friendly fuels. This paper presents the main features of the heterogeneous [...]

Reach Subsea AS announced today that the company has signed a Letter of Intent with DOF Subsea in Norway for the charter of the Normand Reach construction support vessel for a 2 year firm contract with 2 yearly options. Reach Subsea will provide subsea services including 2 Reach Subsea WorkROV [...]

Shepherd has won the £82m contract to build Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd’s new manufacturing plant in County Durham. Building work will start on site in Newton Aycliffe later this year with completion scheduled in mid 2015. Around 150 jobs will be created during the construction phase. The plant represents an [...]

Rail organisations have a little extra time to get their entries in for the UK Rail Industry Awards. The deadline has been extended to 15 November 2013, in response to requests from organisations needing a little more time to co-ordinate their entries. The UK Rail Industry Awards recognise the hard [...]

At the start of construction on Hitachi’s £82m rolling stock factory at Newton Aycliffe, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin and business secretary Vince Cable have launched the new Rail Industry Supply Chain Forum. The forum aims to strengthen the industry by providing an international strategy to maximise the economic potential of [...]

An independent study has concluded that Natcore Technology's (NXT.V; NTCXF.PK; 8NT) black silicon technology could reduce silicon solar cell production costs by up to 23.5%. The savings derive from a streamlining of the production process whereby a silicon wafer is processed into a black silicon solar cell. To make solar [...]

A new robot designed to carry out subsea environmental monitoring along predetermined tracks is now being tested by Eni Norge. Eni Norge is investing heavily in research and development linked to new and improved techniques for monitoring the marine environment. Together with its subsidiary Tecnomare, Eni Norge has completed the [...]

Ramboll was recently awarded a major contract to carry out the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for three near-shore wind farms in Danish waters for the Danish energy grid owner, Energinet.dk. EIA for offshore as well as onshore activities The project covers the EIA for both the offshore wind farms as [...]

Tata Steel today unveiled plans to axe up to 500 jobs from its Long Products business supplying construction projects. Proposed job cuts will mainly affect management and office staff at sites in Scunthorpe, Teesside and Workington. About 340 jobs could go in Scunthorpe, 90 in Workington and 40 in Teesside. [...]

The Government is presenting its fifth official business case for HS2 today, determined to keep the project on track and to ensure the argument centres on capacity and north-south links. Early reports suggest the revised cost-benefit ratio will be around 1:2, meaning £2 of benefits for every £1 invested in [...]