30/03/2017 South Today

are out of the way, will the EU start pursuing a common defence

policy? Join me on BBC Two. We can reveal brand new commuter

trains costing hundreds of millions of pounds are destined to end up

unused sitting in sidings. As we reported on Monday,

First Group and MTR will take over Part of the deal includes

an order for 90 new trains which would replace others

which are themselves so new, they haven't

even been delivered yet. Our transport correspondent Paul

Clifton has this exclusive report. Next month, the first

one will enter service, Onboard, the latest technology,

and lots of space to ease overcrowding on some of the region's

most congested routes. The cost - ?200 million,

for 150 carriages. They will carry 8000

extra commuters each day. First MTR takes over

South West Trains in August. And it has decided it

doesn't want them. It has rejected the new trains

before the German factory Two years from now, they will be

replaced with yet more new trains. And First MTR doesn't want

these trains either. The suburban carriages are right

in the middle of a full So too are the trains

which currently run to Reading. They were refurbished

only last year. And yet, at the same time,

these 30-year-old trains will be brought out

of storage and dusted down So why are hundreds of brand

new and newly refurbished carriages, worth hundreds of millions

of pounds, simply being thrown away? They are specially built

for Southern England's They are currently, I'm told,

destined to sit in sidings. The cost of new trains has tumbled

since the last contracts New manufacturers are competing

for orders and production lines have been set up but it's mainly

because the cost of That knocks hundreds

of thousands of pounds off It makes a new train

cheaper even than one It's a bit like walking

into a car showroom and being offered a brand

new vehicle from the factory for less money than the identical

demonstrator that is already sitting The bottom line - I'm told

by several industry sources that hundreds of millions of pounds

of investment in passenger trains for this region

will simply go to waste. No-one will talk about this

on camera, because the new contract is still inside the ten-day

cooling-off period The Department for Transport told us

that although it specified the service it wants,

it is up to First MTR, the operator, Two people had a lucky escape

after a plane crashed People living nearby reported seeing

the single-engined aircraft, believed to be a Piper ditch just

yards from the shore. Its occupants managed to swim

to safety and didn't People within the plane have swum

ashore and thankfully appear to have very minor injuries

and in are just shock. The accounts of witnesses

who have seen the incident, there is a suggestion the plane has

lost power and the pilot has glided 150 people were told

to leave their homes after a lorry began leaking highly explosive

gas in Berkshire. Homes were evacuated in Hermitage

after a lorry carrying liquid petroleum gas

developed a fault. Firefighters and police cleared

the area and residents were sent They've since been

allowed back home. There are no reports

of any injuries. I was walking down Faircross Road

and I saw a tanker, the gas tanker and it was squirting out

gas from the right-hand side of it towards

the side of the road and there was

police and fire engines surrounding it, so we walked down the shop

and then police told us it was a gas leak so everyone got evacuated

and then we got moved off. Two people had a lucky escape

after a plane crashed Tanks have been massing at Marchwood

near Southampton throughout the day. They'll join 800 troops

heading to Estonia. Among those playing a leading role

in the Nato operation are 120 soldiers from the Wiltshire based

5th Battalion, The Rifles. The Defence Secretary said

they would deter "Russian aggression" as tensions increase

in the Baltic states. This is the Army's heavy

metal on the move. Ready to head east on the biggest

deployment of its kind The guys started at

8:30am this morning. The guys will get on overnight

and it should be be This really is a case

of back to the future. After decades of the Army's vehicles

being in sand camouflage for operations in Iraq

and Afghanistan, they are now back in green once more,

and once again facing the old enemy. Moscow's annexation of Crimea three

years ago this month heralded a rapid cooling in relations

between East and West. It also set nerves on edge

in the Baltic states. These pictures of those the Army

trains against on Salisbury Plain, with Russian tanks used in war

games, make clear where If these scenes today

impress, there'll be no complaints from those who've

ordered this deployment. This is about supporting Nato

deterrence, and for us, we can do that just

by being in the country. The main thing we are trying

to achieve here is reassurance of Nato allies and understand really

at the ground level, for the Rifleman, how he is supposed

to work alongside an Estonian soldier or a French soldier

or a Dane. With that in mind, the Rifles will

be spending eight months in Estonia. Their Warrior vehicles aren't

carrying the extra armour usually fitted for combat zones,

but the message And if there ever comes a time that

extra protection is needed, A major section of the M4

will be closed It's part of a series of works

planned over the next few weekends between Junction 12 and 13,

but some locals say they've only just found out and it

will cause major disruption. Sean Killick is live

near Cieveley for us tonight. Good evening. At the moment it's

typically still quite busy on the M4 but this time tomorrow there will be

no car lights along here, no rumble of vehicles, the only noise you will

hear will be maintenance vehicles because the M4 will be closed in

both directions between junction 12 and junction 13, from Friday night

at 9pm until 6am on Monday morning, but many local people have

complained about this. They accept that work needs to be done but they

say there is a football match this weekend between Reading and Leeds

united with thousands of fans coming down, and they say there has been a

lack of advance warning which is a charge we put two highways England.

We have written to a lot of local residents and businesses

and are conducting interviews like these to raise the profile

and if anyone wants more information they can subscribe to get updates

on our website and that way they will be aware of the future

closures we have planned for May and onwards.

The closure is for maintenance work on two bridges over local roads.

There are also to further weekend closures planned and they have just

had the dates amended, they will now start on Friday May the 5th and

Friday May the 12th. Tom, back to you.

People in Andover campaigning to prevent the closure

of their swimming pool have lost their battle.

At a planning meeting this evening councillors voted to grant planning

permission for a new Leisure Centre to be built on the site

It means people will have to travel to Romsey

The council says it hopes to have a temporary pool

That's how it's looking so far tonight. We're back tomorrow with

bulletins from 6am. But now here's a Lexus. It's been a lovely day. Yes,

the warmest day of the year so far but tonight it stays mild, though a

chance of patchy rain at times, mainly light but we could have the

odd moderate bursts and temperatures could drop to eight or nine Celsius

in the countryside, so very cloudy start to tomorrow, winds will be

light, freezer along the south coast and we will see showers moved north

but eventually the sun will appear in the afternoon and showers will

ease. Temperatures will reach a height of 15 Celsius but in

sheltered spots of the countryside we could see highs of 16. Further

rain is possible tomorrow night, low pressure takes charge of our weather

for the start of the weekend so making the fair and stable and we

may have some thunderstorms on Saturday, a mixture of pale in there

as well, but sunny spells between the showers on Saturday. The showers

could be slow-moving and could be done for us in places. Sunday is

much better sunny time of year. The chance of a shower

on Saturday. Sunday will be dry. Hello, it will cool off over the

next few days but that's not unusual, given how warm it was

today. This was London. We just had the warmest March day since 2012, 20

two Celsius in the Sunnis skies in the south-east. It was much warmer

than recently in north-eastern Scotland, but in between we had a

zone of outbreaks of rain. It's pretty wet in south-west Scotland

and North West England at the moment. This was the scene earlier,

with rainy skies. There's more rain to come overnight. We could see a

few splashes running eastwards into England, but most of the wet weather

is further west. We will see heavy rain arriving in Northern Ireland.

Further training north-west England and also for Scotland. -- further

rain. It will stay very mild for the time of year. Tomorrow, there may be

a little early sunshine for East Anglia and the south-east, but we

have a zone of cloud and showery bits of rain to run eastwards