Skip to main content

Kuala Lumpur replaces obsolete traffic management system

With its integrated transport information system (ITIS) in ruins and waiting to be sold for salvage, Kuala Lumpur’s government has awarded a contract to improve its traffic management. GTC Global won the US$62 million contract last year to bring ITIS back on track. The company was recently acquired by Telekom Malaysia. In 2002, a traffic surveillance system costing more than US$93 million was launched to gather, process and supply real-time traffic information to reduce congestion in Kuala Lumpur. It we
April 9, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
With its integrated transport information system (ITIS) in ruins and waiting to be sold for salvage, Kuala Lumpur’s government has awarded a contract to improve its traffic management.  GTC Global won the US$62 million contract last year to bring ITIS back on track. The company was recently acquired by Telekom Malaysia.

In 2002, a traffic surveillance system costing more than US$93 million was launched to gather, process and supply real-time traffic information to reduce congestion in Kuala Lumpur. It went live in 2005 and less than two years later became a target for vandals and its technology soon became obsolete.

When Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib took office 18 months ago, the system was performing at 60 per cent capacity. He has guaranteed that the new system will be more cost-effective, efficient and able to keep pace with rapidly changing technological advances.

“We are confident of Telekom’s ability to handle this project, but this time, we are doing it differently. Instead of managing the system, we will lease the necessary equipment to them so that their contractor takes the risk,’’ said Ahmad Phesal.  “We expect ITIS to be fully restored by the middle of the year. We have finished installing 90 per cent of the CCTV units in the city to ensure public safety and the 140 variable message signs (VMS) are currently being installed and will be fully operational soon.”

ITIS is a federal government project developed by ITS Konsortium intended to solve Kuala Lumpur’s traffic congestion problem. The traffic management centre (TMC) links the system’s two main components, the advanced traffic management system (ATMS) and the advanced traveller information system (ATIS).  The system also includes 140 VMS, 255 CCTV and automatic incident detection. Traffic signals are linked to the TMC but are controlled separately.

Related Content

  • US ushers in reforms with new transportation bill
    November 9, 2012
    On behalf of ITS America, Paul Feenstra maps out implications and opportunities for the ITS industry. A critical milestone was reached last month when the US Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation reauthorising the nation’s surface transportation programmes, breaking a nearly three-year log-jam which had stymied critical transportation reforms and delayed much-needed infrastructure projects. The law, numbered P.L. 112-141 but known as MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century),
  • Solar-powered traffic detection improves communication
    January 31, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on a new wireless, solar-powered traffic detection system being used by Caltrans District 12. As more and more traffic data is necessary to satisfy the needs of traffic management centres and traveller information systems, and as traffic detection technology becomes more ubiquitous, transportation authorities are pressured to find more economical ways of expanding their detection systems. Caltrans District 12 is leading this push by deploying the latest detection system from Case Global
  • Milesight officially launches 4G Solar-powered camera series
    October 1, 2024
    Product is designed to solve challenges of deploying network cameras in off-grid areas
  • Aselsan demonstrates tolling and traffic management pedigree
    October 6, 2015
    Turkey-based tolling specialist Aselsan is aiming to create a big impact here in Bordeaux with advanced solutions for toll collection, integrated traffic management, vehicle recognition, tracking and enforcement. As the company points out, it has been providing toll collection and traffic management systems since the late 1980s. Indeed, Aselsan can point to a strong record of innovation and success and has won international recognition for several of its proven solutions that enable integrated traffic cont