47-648: The Scania N112 (known as the Scania BR112 until 1984) was a transversely-engined step-entrance single-decker bus , double-decker bus and articulated bus chassis manufactured by Scania between 1978 and 1987. In 1978, Scania ended a decade-long tie-up with Birmingham -based builder Metro Cammell Weymann (MCW) that had resulted in the Metro-Scania single-decker bus and the Metropolitan double-decker bus . MCW subsequently built its own Metrobus chassis as
94-478: A consortium of Scottish businesses headed by former Edinburgh Airport Manager, and Fraport, the owners of Frankfurt Airport , Germany. The airport was sold to Global Infrastructure Partners in 2012. Later that year, the company name was changed to Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited. In January 2013, it was announced that Stansted would be sold to the Manchester Airports Group, a holding company owned by
141-467: A full vote planned for Parliament. The financing of the expansion has yet to be arranged, with Heathrow Airport Holdings' finances already highly leveraged . In 2017 borrowings were £13.4 billion, with shareholders' equity at £0.7 billion. The company has received criticism for prioritising shops over extra security aisles at Heathrow. After much criticism for this, BAA removed some shops to provide extra security lanes. The Economist wrote that retail
188-500: A new underground light rail line is equipped with platforms for low-floor trams and will be permanently operated with low-floor vehicles. This form of design and construction will avoid the need for subsequent rebuilding of stops on tram routes, even though both cities already have underground lines with high-floor platforms. Buses in the UK were traditionally step-entrance built, however this has created problems for people who use wheelchairs as
235-434: A railcar more rapidly if they do not have to climb stairs to enter, reducing dwell time at a stop, and reducing overall travel time. In addition, high-platform railcars have more floor space for passengers if space is not required for stairways, and wheelwells needed to accommodate train bogies . Because bilevel rail cars have two passenger levels within a standard height rail car, the lower level, where passengers board,
282-585: A replacement for the Metropolitan, while in 1980 Scania launched its own replacement, the BR112DH. The BR112DH was available in two lengths, 9.5m and 10.2m, and was powered by the 11-litre DN11 engine (and later the turbocharged DS11 engine), coupled to either a Scania three-speed or Voith automatic gearbox. The biggest customer for the BR112DH was Newport Transport , which took 29. These included nine single-decker versions with Wadham Stringer Vanguard bodywork;
329-430: Is generally lower than a conventional high-floor car. Hence level boarding with a bilevel car is accomplished using a lower platform, as low as 460 mm (18 in) ATOR. Because tram/light-rail/streetcar vehicles often share loading gauge sizes with heavy rail vehicles, these passenger vehicles usually also use high floor designs. Existing tram/streetcar/light-rail networks generally feature low platforms as many of
376-417: Is generally measured above the street surface or above the top of the rail. High-floor designs usually result from packaging requirements: mechanical items such as axles, motors, crankshafts, and/or transmissions, or luggage storage spaces are traditionally placed under the interior floor of these vehicles. The term is used in contrast with low-floor designs, which offer a decreased floor and entry height above
423-467: Is important for BAA at Heathrow because, by law, landing charges are much less than those of similar-scope airports and shops help make up the difference. BAA has been accused of under-investing in snow and ice-fighting technology at Heathrow, which led to runway closures and severe delays in December 2010. In July 2019, Unite threatened a strike over pay after growing frustration on pay inequality. Whilst
470-557: Is the city railway in Cologne; in the mid-1990s, it was decided to divide that city's partially high-platform network into two separate networks: high-floor and low-floor. In contrast with some light rail underground lines, which are often provisionally equipped with low platforms or with tracks laid on raised ballast, there are new developments in the German cities of Düsseldorf (Wehrhahn line) and Dortmund (east–west line). In each of these cities,
517-604: The Construction Clients' Group , which represents client views to the government's Strategic Forum for Construction . The company's head office is located in the Compass Centre on the grounds of Heathrow Airport in Hounslow . The Compass Centre previously served as a British Airways flight crew centre. When Heathrow Terminal 5 opened on 27 March 2008, British Airways staff, including crew check-in staff, relocated from
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#1732899003404564-593: The Public Investment Fund , subject to approval by regulatory bodies and rights which may be exercised by other shareholders. As of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic which enormously reduced air travel, the company had debts of over £17 billion to banks and bondholders. It is amongst the highest indebted UK companies, though 90% of its shares are held overseas. Its request in October 2020 to increase airport charges
611-580: The Republic of Ireland in 1981, while one of the East Lancs-bodied buses was exported to Singapore in 1982 after trials with several United Kingdom operators, joining the fleet of Singapore Bus Services as SBS7000E. One BR112H was bodied by Custom Coaches for Neville's Bus Service in 1983. In 1984, the BR112DH was re-designated the N112DH (and later N112DRB), with the same length and gearbox options. It
658-605: The double-deckers were bodied by Marshall of Cambridge . Two were built with Alexander RH bodywork for the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive , and two more with Northern Counties bodies for the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive . There were also four demonstrators, two each with East Lancs and Marshall bodywork. One of the Marshall-bodied demonstrators was exported to
705-592: The 10 borough councils of Greater Manchester. In May 2014, Heathrow Airport Holdings announced the appointment of John Holland-Kaye, current Development Director, as chief executive officer, succeeding Colin Matthews on 1 July 2014. The company agreed on 16 October 2014 to sell Glasgow, Southampton and Aberdeen airports to AGS Airports , a consortium of Ferrovial and Macquarie Group for £1 billion, in order to focus solely on Heathrow. In January 2024, Ferrovial announced it would sell its shareholding to Ardian and
752-585: The CEO John Holland-Kaye was awarded a 103% pay rise from £2,100,000 to £4,200,000, staff have been denied a 4.5% increase. In July 2007, BAA sought an injunction preventing potential protesters involved in the Camp for Climate Action from approaching Heathrow Airport. The injunction specifically targeted anyone belonging to, or protesting in the name of, AirportWatch , The No Third Runway Action Group and Plane Stupid . Airport Watch members included Friends of
799-723: The Compass Centre to Terminal 5. The original BAA plc's head office was located near London Victoria station in the City of Westminster , London. BAA was a founding member of Flying Matters , a coalition of business groups, trade unions, tourism groups and the aviation industry (airports, airlines, aerospace manufacturers and air traffic control) launched in June 2007 to "balance the argument around issues of aviation and climate change" arguing that aviation does not contribute significantly to climate change, and that an expansion of aviation will aid
846-976: The Earth , Greenpeace , the Campaign to Protect Rural England , the World Development Movement , the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds – all of whom were caught by what was described as the 'Mother of all Injunctions'. BAA denied seeking a blanket ban on airport protest. In the end they won a more limited injunction, and the camp went ahead amid considerable worldwide publicity. Afterwards, Duncan Bonfield, BAA director of corporate affairs, and Mark Mann, BAA head of media relations, resigned. BAA's pricing structure mostly excludes General aviation access to their airports by either banning
893-629: The Hungarian government. In July 2006, BAA was taken over by a consortium led by Ferrovial , following a bid which valued the company at £10.1 billion ($ 20 billion). As a result, the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange (where it had previously been part of the FTSE 100 Index) on 15 August 2006. Following the take-over, the decision was made to sell the stake in Ferihegy and this
940-573: The UK Competition Commission announced that BAA would be required to sell three of the seven UK airports it owned at the time within two years, over fears the monopoly position held by BAA over London and Scotland 's airports could have "adverse effects for both passengers and airlines". These were Gatwick, Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports. The sales were forecast to raise between £3.5bn and £4bn. BAA announced plans to sell Gatwick Airport on 17 September 2009. At that time,
987-536: The airport was valued at £1.8bn by regulators and it appeared that several firms including Macquarie Group, Manchester Airports Group , Fraport and Virgin Atlantic were interested in this sale, either on their own or as part of a consortium of companies. Ferrovial and its partners ( Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec ) had been seeking £1.8bn to £2bn when they opened
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#17328990034041034-435: The bidding process. Eventually, the sale was confirmed on 21 October 2009 and formally completed on 3 December 2009, for a fee of £1.51 billion, almost 25 per cent less than BAA had expected Gatwick would fetch when the sale was announced a year previously. BAA sold the airport to Global Infrastructure Partners , the fund backed by Credit Suisse and General Electric , who also operate London City Airport . Ferrovial,
1081-545: The buses are not wheelchair accessible, as well as being somewhat difficult for passengers with reduced mobility and parents who may be carrying prams and pushchairs. Despite low-floor buses first being phased into the UK in 1994, a large number of step-entrance buses remained in use as well as being manufactured. However with the popularity of low-floor buses expanding by the late 1990's due to their easy accessibility for elderly passengers with reduced mobility, passengers with disabilities and parents carrying prams and pushchairs,
1128-539: The company sold Prestwick International Airport (now known as Glasgow Prestwick Airport ). BAA won a contract to manage the retail operations at Pittsburgh International Airport in 1991 under their BAA USA subsidiary. In December 2005, BAA made a winning bid of £1.2 billion for a 75% stake in Budapest Ferihegy International Airport , the largest airport in Hungary , which was being privatised by
1175-456: The company, said that, given the reduction in the number of airports owned by the company, the BAA name was no longer appropriate; after the sale of Stansted, Heathrow Airport would account for 95% of the company's business. Each remaining airport owned by the company reverted to operating under its own name rather than the BAA banner. As a major client of the UK construction industry, it is a member of
1222-501: The developing world, benefit social justice, and is essential for UK tourism and for the UK economy. The group was dissolved in April 2011 after several members, including BAA, left the coalition. Since 2009 the company has been progressing a plan to build a third runway to expand Heathrow Airport. This requires government approval, and on 5 June 2018 the Cabinet approved the third runway, with
1269-866: The end of their economic or maintainable life. To get around this, a wheelchair compliant step-entrance bus introduced by Wrightbus, the Eclipse SchoolRun was produced in 2006, fitted with a wheelchair lift to allow wheelchair-bound passengers onto the bus, but no further wheelchair compliant step-entrance bus designs were produced. Due to the Terms Of The Disability Discrimination Act requiring all buses in public service to be wheelchair accessible, non-compliant step-entrance single deckers and their low floor counterparts were outlawed after 31 December 2015, with non-compliant step-entrance double deckers and their low floor counterparts following suit after 31 December 2016, however exemptions apply for
1316-901: The gap between the platform and the floor of the track varies by no more than 76 mm (3 in) horizontally and 16 mm ( 5 ⁄ 8 in) vertically. Level boarding is also known as stepless entry since passengers do not have to negotiate a staircase to board the passenger car. For newly constructed routes, routes primarily located in tunnels, or routes with a dedicated right of way and enough space, high platforms are usually preferred, since high-floor vehicles are cheaper to manufacture, and have better operating characteristics. High platforms do have significant advantages beyond level boarding for wheelchair accessibility. Physically disabled passengers (e.g. those using wheelchairs or who have difficulties climbing stairs) also benefit, as do travelers pulling wheeled luggage or small folding shopping carts. Even physically non-disabled passengers can board
1363-544: The limited use of non-compliant heritage buses on vintage bus services, as well as Transport For London's Heritage Routemasters due to their service being overlaid on the high-frequency low-floor Route 15. In San Francisco , the Muni Metro light-rail system, which has both on-street and underground stations, uses a combination of high and low platforms, and the vehicles feature retractable stairs to accommodate both platform types. For on-street stations, stairs are deployed within
1410-428: The majority holder in BAA, said that it expected to make a capital loss of around 142 million euros (US$ 212.6 million) against its consolidated earnings following the sale. In October 2011, BAA announced that Edinburgh Airport would be put up for sale in early 2012 with an aim to handing over the running of the site to a new owner by summer 2012. Numerous groups were reported to have expressed interest, including
1457-522: The movements of light aircraft, or setting high fees and mandatory handling charges. The total charges for landing, one night of parking, and mandatory handling for a Cessna 152 (including VAT) in 2013 was £234 at Aberdeen, £193 at Glasgow, and £187 at Southampton. Heathrow Airport does not permit any flights for recreational, commemorative, charity and record breaking purposes, light twin-engine private aircraft and all light single-engine aircraft. BAA has since taken steps to improve this issue, including
Scania N112 - Misplaced Pages Continue
1504-541: The production of step-entrance buses slowed, with the last ever non-compliant step-entrance bus design being the double-decked East Lancs Pyoneer in 1997. The production of step-entrance buses in the UK almost fully ceased by 31 December 2000, with the legal requirement for new buses produced to be wheelchair accessible, which forced bus manufacturers to concentrate on making low-floor buses, however bus operators were still allowed to order secondhand non-compliant step-entrance buses and run them on their services until they reach
1551-542: The retrofitting of high platforms on existing routes, while still providing improved accessibility. Although low-floor vehicles began to be developed in the 1920s, the first low-floor tram is generally recognized as the Duewag / ACM Vevey design of 1984 deployed in Geneva, providing a floor height of 480 mm (19 in) ATOR. Tourist coaches generally have very high floors, sometimes greater than 1,000 mm (39 in) above
1598-697: The road surface, in order to have ample room for luggage under the floor. Since boarding must be allowed directly from flat ground, long and steep staircases are needed. Transit buses also use high floors to provide mechanical clearances for solid axles, but the use of dropped axles has enabled the creation of low-floor buses and by 2008 in the United States, the majority of new transit bus orders were for low-floor types. Today, in Germany, all rapid transit railways, most commuter trains , and many light rail vehicles operate as high-floor networks. A notable exception
1645-440: The stations or stops are in the streets. The high construction/conversion cost of high platforms and the difficulty of making high platforms compatible with other features of the urban landscape are a significant obstacle to converting tram networks these into urban or commuter rail networks with high platforms. These problems were a major motivation for the development of low-floor trams , which allow transit operators to avoid
1692-597: The street surface. Since low-floor designs generally were developed after high-floor vehicles, the older high-floor design is sometimes also known as conventional or the “traditional” design. A rail vehicle of conventional or high-floor design usually has a flat floor ranging between 760 and 1,370 mm (30 and 54 in) above the top of the railhead (ATOR). To enhance accessibility and optimize dwell times , railway platform heights at stations are sometimes standardised to allow level boarding for commuters on high platforms. According to one definition, level boarding means
1739-604: The vehicle to allow boarding from low platforms; as the trains move underground, the stairs rise until they are flush with the floor to allow boarding from high platforms. Heathrow Airport Holdings Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London , England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher 's privatisation of government-owned assets, and
1786-1005: Was also available as an articulated chassis. Newport Transport initially continued to be the most significant customer, taking eight Alexander RH bodied N112s at the end of 1984, followed by eight East Lancs-bodied versions in 1986. However, deregulation and the introduction of route tendering in London were to result in a significant increase in sales and a greater customer base, as past purchasing allegiances were broken. Former National Bus Company subsidiary Brighton & Hove took ten East Lancs-bodied N112s, while Leicester Citybus took four, and Scottish co-operative A1 Service took two. In London, Grey-Green took six East Lancs -bodied versions, while Kentish Bus bought five with Alexander RH bodies, and Boro'line Maidstone two. There were also six East Lancs -bodied single-decker versions for Kingston upon Hull City Transport , and two for another Scottish co-operative, AA Motor Services. The N112
1833-563: Was also built as an airport shuttle bus with Van Hool Alizee single-decker coach body and DAF Variomatic transmission, and in this form Capital Coaches of West Drayton ordered 23 on behalf of the British Airports Authority at Heathrow in 1987, while Terminus Securities took one in 1988 for work at Gatwick Airport . In 1987, Centurion bodied a N112 for Kangaroo Flat Bus Lines, Bendigo , while Custom Coaches bodied one for Neville's Bus Service . In 1987/88, Ansair bodied twelve for Metro Tasmania . One articulated N112ARS
1880-619: Was bodied by Denning in 1985 for the Brisbane City Council followed In 1993 by a Volgren bodied example for Invicta Bus Services . In 1988, Scania introduced its 3-series range of buses and trucks , and the N112 was thus replaced by the new N113 . High-floor High-floor describes the interior flooring of commuter vehicles primarily used in public transport such as trains , light rail cars and other rail vehicles, along with buses and trolleybuses . Interior floor height
1927-764: Was completed in June 2007, when a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort of Germany purchased the stake. BAA expanded into international operations, including retail contracts at Boston Logan International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Airport (through its subsidiary BAA USA, Inc.), and a management contract with the City of Indianapolis to run the Indianapolis International Airport (as BAA Indianapolis, Inc.) before ultimately selling off its US division to Prospect Capital Corporation in July 2010. After an inquiry which ran from August 2008 to March 2009,
Scania N112 - Misplaced Pages Continue
1974-524: Was created by John Lloyd and Jim Northover of the design consultancy Lloyd Northover, at the time of the privatisation in 1986. The original BAA plc was acquired in 2006 by Airport Development and Investment Limited (ADI), a new company formed by the Ferrovial consortium. In October 2008, ADI changed its name to BAA Limited, and on 15 October 2012, the company announced that it had changed its name to Heathrow Airport Holdings. Colin Matthews, Chief Executive of
2021-601: Was established by the Airport Authority Act 1965, to take responsibility for four state-owned airports from the Ministry of Aviation – Heathrow Airport , Gatwick Airport , Prestwick Airport and Stansted Airport . In the following few years, the authority acquired Edinburgh Airport (1971), Glasgow Airport (1975) and Aberdeen Airport (1975). The authority took on the Ministry of Civil Aviation Constabulary in 1966, which
2068-490: Was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index . BAA plc was bought in 2006 by a consortium led by Ferrovial , a Spanish firm specialising in the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of transport, urban and services infrastructure. In March 2009, the company was eventually required to sell Gatwick and Stansted airports. Eventually, over the following years BAA sold all its airports other than Heathrow. The company
2115-551: Was rejected by the Civil Aviation Authority . As BAA, the company stated that its name did not stand for anything. It was still widely referred to as the "British Airports Authority" by both the media and the public, though the Authority was dissolved following the 1986 privatisation . BAA should not be confused with BA, the abbreviation of British Airways . The company's former logo, composed of three green triangles,
2162-485: Was renamed Heathrow Airport Holdings in 2012 to reflect its main business. The company's head office is in the Compass Centre , on the grounds of Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon . The company makes money from charging landing fees and departing passenger levies to airlines, and from ancillary operations within those airports such as retail, car parking and property. The British Airports Authority
2209-538: Was renamed to become the British Airports Authority Constabulary , and was disbanded between 1974 and 1975. As part of Margaret Thatcher 's moves to privatise government owned assets, the Airports Act 1986 was passed which mandated the creation of BAA plc as a vehicle by which stock market funds could be raised. The initial capitalisation of BAA plc was £1,225 million. In the early 1990s,
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