Skip to main content

EU project tests new technologies in Madrid to improve traffic and travel information

Spanish technology group Indra is implementing the European R&D&i project Harmony, with the collaboration of research groups G@TV and TranSYT from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and with the support of Grupo Interbús and Spain's Traffic Department (DGT). The pilot study is being carried out in Madrid to develop new technologies to integrate real-time data from different transport operators and improve multimodal information services. The three-year project, developed with the Polytechnic University of
July 25, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Spanish technology group 509 Indra is implementing the European R&D&i project Harmony, with the collaboration of research groups G@TV and TranSYT from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and with the support of Grupo Interbús and Spain's Traffic Department (DGT). The pilot study is being carried out in Madrid to develop new technologies to integrate real-time data from different transport operators and improve multimodal information services.


The three-year project, developed with the Polytechnic University of Madrid, is part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, the 1690 European Commission's investment plan for developing transport infrastructures with the goal of completing the trans-European transportation network.

The Harmony project applies current European standards and state-of-the-art technologies to standardise, exchange and integrate data on public transportation in real time and data and information on road network traffic, as well as from other transportation organisations. Based on this data, it aims to develop new multimodal information services that will benefit both transportation operators and citizens and contribute to improving mobility management and information.

A collaboration between transport operator Grupo Interbús and DGT provides Interbus with real time statistical traffic data in standard formats, which will enable the testing of information exchange between public transportation and traffic to improve management and mobility and to offer citizens new, improved services. In addition, by integrating the information from Interbús into Indra's traffic management solution, the buses may be located graphically on a map of Madrid's different roads.

In a second phase, it is expected that DGT will join the pilot project to validate the real-time standardised information exchange. In addition to testing services for improving the city's mobility management and contributing toward a coordinated and speedy incident response, the pilot project is also considering offering new services, such alerts and multimodal route planning, in a third stage.

Once completed, the Harmony project will analyse the real impact that these applications and services could have on both transportation conditions as well as on operators' management and users' satisfaction.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Real time information delivers safer work zone
    January 31, 2012
    Beginning in June 2011, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) began replacing 14 deteriorated bridge superstructures on Interstate 93 throughout the city of Medford. The project has been called the 93 FAST 14, and because of its impact on the travelling public Mass DOT has implemented the use of Smart Work Zone technology.
  • Indra-Alstom to install tunnel security systems for Spanish high-speed rail link
    October 22, 2015
    A consortium of Indra and Alstom España has won the contract to install public safety and security systems in the six tunnels on the high-speed rail link connecting Antequera and Granada in Spain. The contract also includes system maintenance for a period of 42 months. Over 100 km long, the rail link represents a key infrastructure in the development of the Andalusian Crossrail Project and forms part of the Trans-European Transport Network as one of the priority networks for improving passenger and cargo
  • Best laid plans
    March 22, 2012
    Colossal is not too bold a word to describe the scale of ITS developments currently under way in Europe. The European Commission’s ITS Action Plan has six areas of focus, each of which expands out into numerous projects involving a lot of leg work by various committees, working groups or consultants. Add to that the supporting work and research efforts of the many parts of Ertico (ITS Europe); plus each of the 27 European Union member states is working on ‘transition’ of the EU’s ITS Directive into their ow
  • Germany's approach to adaptive traffic control
    February 3, 2012
    Jürgen Mück, Siemens AG, describes the three-level approach taken in Germany to adaptive network control