Train operator Northern Rail has announced it is removing 165 trains per day from schedules until the end of July to “stabilise service levels” amid major disruption following the introduction of a new timetable.

Commuters today faced another day of travel chaos as the new train timetables introduced in an attempt to modernise the UK’s railways continue to cause delays. 

A shortage of train drivers meant that Northern cancelled more than 100 trains that would otherwise have set off over the course of Friday, with severe disruption reported between Manchester Airport and Blackpool North. 

The route between Windermere and Oxenholme was also heavily affected, Northern warned passengers via Twitter. 

⚠️ NORTHERN SERVICE UPDATE ⚠️ 

🔴Please see below for current disruption on our network👇

📱For information on delays and cancellations, check before you travel:  👉https://t.co/6U2PzA1znQ 

💷You can claim compensation here: 👉https://t.co/J1CCsJ3qI3pic.twitter.com/zSIwLTtWik

— Northern (@northernassist) June 1, 2018

Meanwhile, the UK’s largest train operating company, Govia Thameslink Railway, which is responsible for Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express – announced that five of its morning Thameslink services were reduced in capacity by a third. 

Angry travellers took to Twitter this morning to bemoan the service, with users saying they are “tired of always getting home late and being late for work”. 

@northernassist the northern rail service is a joke. 3 days in a row, cancelled trains short notice due to a shortage of train crew? How about not changing the timetable until you know you can get the staff? Tired of always getting home late and being late for work! 😡 #nothappy

— Jenna Cooper (@Jenna_L_C) June 1, 2018

For f*** sake @TLRailUK .. just go back to the old timetable! The trains were packed but AT LEAST THEY RAN 7:52 #Hackbridge to #CityThameslink#Cancelled#Again#Thameslink

— Nikki Muller (@NikkiMuller3) June 1, 2018

Another morning of furious passengers trying to get a Thameslink service. Cancelled trains, Late trains, moving platforms, no trains. #thameslink

— louise male (@malemedia) June 1, 2018

Transport union RMT said railway workers were “bearing the brunt of public anger”, criticising the train companies and the Department of Transport for a lack of support. 

Calling for the transport secretary to step down over the issue, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “Not only is Chris Grayling incompetent and not fit to run a railway but he is a coward as well, leaving RMT members to take the flack for failed policies that are his responsibility.

“Grayling should get out, the private companies he is propping up should be sacked and the vital rail services the nation depends on should be returned to public ownership.”

On Thursday, the two rail operators released a join statement alongside Network Rail blaming the disruption on the new timetable being released later than normal, meaning train companies had less time to prepare for the changes – including training drivers for the new routes. 

Operators were left at a loss to “address all of the logistical challenges”, the companies said. 

The Times reported that rail disruptions caused by the new timetables were likely to cause commuter misery until August. 

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Imagine never having to encounter a red light ever again? Sounds bliss doesn’t it, and in fact a new set of smart traffic lights that are being tested in the UK could fulfil this wish.

The the traffic lights work by advising motorists and vehicles what speed they should drive at so they arrive at the next set of lights just as they turn green.

Engineering firm AECOM is developing the scheme to cut congestion and reduce vehicle emissions through more efficient driving.

It will be tested using a simulation model of the A59 in York.

The concept is one of five shortlisted entries in a competition launched by the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), Highways England and Innovate UK to create roads for driverless cars.

AECOM principal consultant Heather Hawkins said: “We are excited and are eager to get started so we can better understand the potential impact of vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies on our local road network in York.

“We are fortunate to be living and working in a city which has chosen to be an early innovator, deploying and testing these technologies on-street through existing research programmes. It’s truly inspiring and we are grateful to be a part of it.”

NIC chairman Sir John Armitt said: “We can see for ourselves the progress in developing cars for the future, with trials of driverless cars taking place across the country.

“We now need to make sure the technology on our roads keeps up.”

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “It is great to see novel technology like this being trialled.

“Stop-start traffic causes drivers to use their brakes more, which causes wear, and accelerate more, which can increase vehicle emissions.”

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More than four million trains across Britain will be rescheduled from Sunday in the largest timetable change for decades.

The number of alterations is seven times larger than normal due to the introduction of new trains and services following billions of pounds of investment.

The shake-up is designed to increase overall frequencies and reliability, but some passengers will find their regular journeys are no longer possible.

Some disruption is expected while trains and crews are redeployed over the coming weeks.

Many of the timetable changes are a result of the £7 billion invested in the Thameslink programme in the South East, including rebuilding London Bridge station, new trains and track improvements.

Departure times will change for every train run by the UK’s busiest franchise – Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – which consists of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.

There will be almost 400 additional GTR trains every day.

The new GTR timetable was developed from scratch and was designed to tackle existing issues by extending stop times at busier stations and increasing turnaround times at destination stations.

Some passengers in a number of locations complained they will be served with fewer or slower services, including in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Kent, East Sussex and Surrey, where many pay several thousands of pounds for annual season tickets to London.

Emily Ketchin, founder of campaign group Harpenden Thameslink Commuters, claimed the operator is “slashing key Harpenden services by a third”.

GTR said it carried out the biggest consultation of its kind, receiving 28,000 responses over 18 months.

Slashing key Harpenden services by a third is not an enhancement – the only thing you should be spinning are train wheels. The fact that @TLRailUK think it acceptable to reduce services even further shows the contempt they have for people who rely on their service. #saveHPDtrainshttps://t.co/YDYM55G1GT

— Harpenden Thameslink Commuters (@HPDCommuters) May 19, 2018

@Se_Railway why are all the thameslink trains through maze hill cancelled today? This is literally day 1 of the new timetable and you’ve cancelled all of them. That is embarrassing. Why?

— James Johnson (@james_JJ4217) May 20, 2018

These new train timetables are impossible to understand and the various websites showing ravensborne to st pancras as ‘not a valid route’, which is rubbish. Going to be pot luck whether ppl get trains tomorrow or not, I think #thameslink#southeastern@TLRailUK#mess

— Heather Nicholson (@AitchNic) May 20, 2018

IMPORTANT – for the first few weeks some of the NEW @TLRailUK trains between London and Rainham WILL be cancelled as not enough drivers have been trained. #railplan2020

— Thameslink Medway – Commuters Group (@TLMedwayGroup) May 19, 2018

It says it will have space for an extra 50,000 passengers travelling to London in the morning peak each day, and 80 more stations will have direct services to the centre of the capital.

GTR chief executive Charles Horton said: “We are introducing the biggest ever change to rail timetables to significantly boost capacity on the UK’s most congested network.”

The new timetable arrangements were described as a “disgusting insult” to disabled passengers by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

@RMTunion slams new GTR timetable as a disgusting insult to disabled passengershttps://t.co/9xlGOfPOWC@ABCommuters@Dis_PPL_Protestpic.twitter.com/7VCGFk5pLK

— RMT (@RMTunion) May 18, 2018

It said the latest instruction from GTR tells staff not to attempt to place people of reduced mobility on a train if there is a possibility of delaying the service.

A GTR spokesman insisted “we place a priority on making our services accessible to all” but said it cannot hold trains when people arrive at a station without enough time to board.

The train you are catching today will change next week as part of the biggest rail timetable change in decades – check out our chief exec @anthonysmithTF‘s blog on what it means for passengers ⏰🚉https://t.co/BylAUJODUXpic.twitter.com/nGZNBuIKZ1

— Transport Focus (@TransportFocus) May 18, 2018

Delays to electrification work between Manchester and Bolton in addition to a shortage of diesel rolling stock mean many of Northern’s planned improvements have been deferred.

TransPennine Express (TPE) becomes the sole operator between Manchester and Huddersfield outside peak times from Sunday. This adds extra capacity but trains will only stop at every other station to save time, affecting passengers wanting to make local trips.

Some passengers from Levenshulme and Heaton Chapel in Manchester will also suffer as they go from four trains per hour into Manchester down to three in the off peak, with a gap between services of up to 49 minutes.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of passenger watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Having plenty of staff on the ground from the start and during the initial transition, when changes bed down, will be critical.”

A driver who moved to the passenger seat after switching on his car’s “autopilot” feature as he travelled on the motorway has been banned from the roads for 18 months.

Bhavesh Patel, 39, appeared to have his hands behind his head when he was filmed by a passenger in another car.

While driving his white Tesla S 60 along the M1, Patel switched on the supercar’s autopilot function before moving to the passenger seat, leaving the steering wheel and foot controls unmanned, police said.

A witness, who spotted the vehicle with no-one in the driving seat, said they thought the car was going at around 40mph.

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Patel, from Nottingham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving over the incident on the motorway near Hemel Hempstead, in Hertfordshire, at around 7.40pm on May 21 last year.

At St Albans Crown Court on Friday April 20, he was banned from driving for 18 months, ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and 10 days’ rehabilitation, and told to pay £1,800 costs, police said.

Patel told officers he knew what he had done was “silly”, but said the car was capable of something “amazing” and that he was “the unlucky one who got caught”.

Pc Kirk Caldicutt, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire road policing unit, said: “What Patel did was grossly irresponsible and could have easily ended in tragedy.

“He not only endangered his own life but the lives of other innocent people using the motorway on that day.

“This case should serve as an example to all drivers who have access to autopilot controls and have thought about attempting something similar.

“I want to stress that they are in no way a substitute for a competent motorist in the driving seat who can react appropriately to the road ahead.

“I hope Patel uses his disqualification period to reflect on why he chose to make such a reckless decision on that day.”

Investigators were told by a Tesla engineer the autopilot function, including traffic-aware cruise control and auto-steer, is intended to provide assistance to a “fully attentive driver”.

Swiss company ABB has unveiled what it’s calling the world’s fastest charger for electric cars.

The Terra High Power charger can add 200km of range to a car in just eight minutes, finally overcoming one of the biggest headaches that face most electric car owners.

While electric cars are being heralded as the future of transportation, they do have one major setback which is that they can take a very long time to charge.

Most standard cars can be filled up with fuel in a matter of minutes, electric car owners however can be stuck waiting between 15-45mins to charge up their vehicles during long journeys.

Even if you’re lucky enough to have a Tesla, the company’s Supercharger network still takes at least 20mins to give you anything close to a decent amount of range. For almost all electric cars a full-charge will also mean leaving it plugged in overnight.

This is where ABB steps in. Its new charger could solve this problem by charging cars in a matter of minutes and finally bring electric cars alongside petrol and diesel vehicles in terms of convenience.

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Of course as with anything that sounds too good to be true, there’s a catch, but it’s not as severe as you might expect.

ABB’s technology is already built, it works. All we need to do now is wait for cars to support this level of fast-charging, something that will be increasingly likely as major manufacturers like BMW, Audio and Volkswagen all move over to electrified vehicles.

The pilot who safely landed a stricken Southwest Airlines flight after a passenger was almost sucked out of a window has been hailed a “hero” for the “calm” way she handled the horror scenario.

Tammie Jo Shults was one of the first female fighter pilots in the US Navy and was accustomed to touching down F-18 jets at 150 miles per hour on aircraft carriers, it was revealed in the hours after Tuesday’s mid-air emergency. 

“We have a part of the aircraft missing”: Listen to the dramatic communications between the pilot of Southwest flight 1380 and air traffic control as plane from NYC comes into Philadelphia for emergency landing https://t.co/CgWfJH1DhYpic.twitter.com/QKmWOXNJ0r

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) April 17, 2018

These “nerves of steel” are apparent in the understated way Shults relayed the chaotic events unfolding at 32,000 feet to air traffic controllers, as she prepared to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport.

“So we have a part of the aircraft missing so we’re going to need to slow down a bit,” Shults calmly tells the controller.

After requesting a medical team meet the plane, Shults is asked if the plane is “physically on fire”.

“No, it’s not on fire but part of it’s missing,” Shults says.

“They said there is a hole and someone went out,” she adds. 

Many are calling Tammie Jo Shults, who landed @SouthwestAir flight 1380 after it lost an engine, a hero. The Navy veteran is being compared to famed pilot “Sully” Sullenberger. https://t.co/ePzsGYta8S

— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) April 18, 2018

The air traffic controller then relays the information back to her in disbelief, “hmm.. you said there was a hole and someone went out”, he says, before details of her flight path are discussed. 

When one of the two engines on the Boeing 737-700 blew and broke apart a piece of shrapnel flew into a window, shattering the glass.

Passenger Jennifer Riordan was almost sucked out and while pulled back inside the aircraft, she later died. Seven other passengers suffered minor injuries.

Passengers praise flight crew of #Southwest1380 and identify pilot on social media as Tammie Jo Shults, who landed plane after engine blew. She’s a native from New Mexico, and was one of the Navy’s first female fighter pilots @6abc 📸: Kristopher Johnson pic.twitter.com/NbgjfBv0tb

— Christie Ileto (@Christie_Ileto) April 18, 2018

Shults might never have become a pilot if she had not been so determined to fly from a young age.

From @AP about one of the Southwest pilots in today’s flight:
“Passengers commended one of the pilots, Tammie Jo Shults, for her cool-headed handling of the emergency. She walked through the aisle and talked with passengers to make sure they were OK after the plane touched down.”

— Elizabeth Dinh (@ElizabethKPTV) April 18, 2018

Hero Pilot Tammy Jo Shults saved all but one passenger from a ‘freak accident’. (187 thwarted?)@realDonaldTrump#Qanon@POTUSpic.twitter.com/GheD4SCjfr

— Bruce Althouse (@PossumHunter7) April 17, 2018

Uber has suspended all its self-driving car tests in the US after a fatal accident in Arizona.

A pedestrian was reportedly crossing the street in the city of Tempe when she was hit by the car.

The incident comes just a year after one of Uber’s self-driving cars was involved in another accident where no-one was hurt but one of Uber’s self-driving Volvo cars was flipped onto its side.

Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted that the death was “incredibly sad news” and that “we’re thinking of the victim’s family.”

It’s not yet clear what happened but Khosrowshahi said that Uber would fully cooperate with law enforcement to understand what happened.

Some incredibly sad news out of Arizona. We’re thinking of the victim’s family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened. https://t.co/cwTCVJjEuz

— dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) March 19, 2018

We’ve reached out to Uber for an official statement on what might have happened but the Uber Comms Twitter account has already tweeted on the incident.

“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We’re fully cooperating with @TempePolice and local authorities as they investigate this incident.” it said.

Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We’re fully cooperating with @TempePolice and local authorities as they investigate this incident.

— Uber Comms (@Uber_Comms) March 19, 2018