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

  • Upgrading Koblenz's traffic information system
    March 1, 2013
    David Crawford reviews an award-winning scheme that delivered a 30% increase in website usage – below budget The German Federal Agricul­tural Show (Bundesgarten­schau, BUGA) runs between mid-April and mid-October every other year in a differ­ent city. The most recent, 2011, edition took place in Koblenz, a medium-sized community with a population of just over 105,000 in the Rheinland-Pfalz region, and was expected to draw an additional 40,000 visitors a day to its central area. Traffic access from the moto
  • Video surveillance upgrade for M6 toll motorway
    December 11, 2012
    Nine years after its opening, the 27-mile M6 toll motorway in the UK has had its video surveillance system upgraded in order to increase recording capacity and comply with changing data security requirements. The motorway bypasses the M6, one of the most congested pieces of road in Europe, which travels through Birmingham. Systems maintenance manager for operators Midland Expressway Limited (MEL), Paul Perry, explained why they decided to upgrade their system: “The existing Wavestore recording system has d
  • Asian high speed rail link tender expected late 2014
    July 29, 2013
    Officially launched in February 2013, tenders for the high-speed rail link project between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore will be received towards the end of 2014, Mohd Nur Kamal, the CEO of Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) has announced. Although the two governments continue to work on technical details and feasibility studies, various parties have already voiced an interest. The railway, which will connect the two countries at speeds exceeding 300 km/h, will reduce the journey time between t
  • Insight into China's smart cities initiatives
    April 25, 2013
    Schneider Electric, which has been playing an active role in smart transportation systems in China since 1990, provides an insight into smart city initiatives in the country. Today, most cities across the world are facing unprecedented growth, which questions the viability of the current development model. They are immersed in a competition with each other, both domestically and internationally, in terms of investments, jobs and talents. Cities need to become more attractive and intelligent by becoming more