News

MTR Corporation, the operator of Hong Kong’s metro network, has awarded Thales and Alstom a contract worth US$371 million to upgrade the signalling systems of seven metro lines. A maintenance option is also included in the contract. Thales and Alstom will be responsible for the replacement of the existing signalling system including automatic train supervision (ATS), interlocking, and automatic train control (ATC) in the control centre, trains and stations. Thales, as consortium leader, will provide its

Colombia has launched the second tender round for phase two of the country's US$25 billion 4G highway plan. The concession is valued at US$1.24 billion, according to vice president Germán Vargas Lleras. The project involves construction and repair work on the 447 kilometre Santana-Mocoa-Neiva highway, which will connect southern department Putumayo with Huila in the country's central region. The winner will build 22 kilometre of four-lane highway, 32 kilometres of two-lane highway and repair some 422

Private investment in infrastructure projects has grown significantly over the past decade in Latin America's six largest economies, with the exception of Mexico and Argentina, according to a Standard & Poor's report. In Mexico the retraction in private investment is explained by poor planning and execution of projects on the part of the government. Meanwhile in Argentina, the dip is explained by government intervention, according to the report. Outside the two regional powerhouses, private sector par

Inverclyde Council has selected solar-powered parking terminals from Parkeon to help manage growing visitor numbers in Greenock, resulting from a major town centre investment and re-development programme. The local authority has specified Parkeon’s environmentally-friendly Strada Transfer terminals to help deliver a low carbon parking strategy that will boost economic activity by easing traffic congestion. The natural energy source of the coin-only Strada Transfer terminals means there is no need f

A recent report from Navigant Research, Electric Vehicle Market Forecasts, provides a comprehensive overview of the overall light duty vehicle (LDV) and the light duty electric vehicle (EV) markets, including global forecasts for annual vehicle sales and vehicles in use through 2023. It indicates that worldwide sales of light duty EVs are expected to increase from 2.7 million in 2014 to 6.4 million in 2023. The use of EVs, which now account for a small but growing share of the world’s LDV market, has bee

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to add two cutting-edge automatic emergency braking systems to the recommended advanced safety features included under its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) – the latest step in a half-century of safety innovations that have saved more than 600,000 lives, according to new NHTSA research. The agency plans to continue to encourage development and commercialization of additional promising saf

Brazil's civil aviation minister Eliseu Padilha has given the thumbs up to include the international airport of southern Santa Catarina state capital Florianópolis in the next round of airport concessions, following lobby efforts by mayor César Souza Júnior last year. The project calls for the expansion of Hercilio Luz international airport by expanding the airport's flight line and taxiway as well as building a new parking lot with 1,800 spaces. A second project involves expanding the airport's passenge

Alstom has been awarded two contracts worth over US$73 million by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to supply signalling, telecom and electrification solutions for the new Kochi metro line. The projects will be implemented in early 2016 and commercial service is scheduled to begin in March 2016. The contracts include 25 Alstom Metropolis trains which will circulate on the new Kochi metro line which is 25 kilometres long and includes 22 stations. These trains will carry up to 15,000 passengers per hour

Following President Obama’s State of the Union address, republicans are indicating that they are open to compromising with the president on increasing US transportation funding, although neither side has offered specifics on how they would pay for new construction projects. According to The Hill, Obama has called for Congress to pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan, including using savings from tax reform to pay for transportation projects, although he stopped short of calling for an increase in the fe

French public transport operator Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) and manufacturer of cable-driven lift systems Pomagalski (POMA) have signed a three year partnership agreement for cable transport in urban environments. The two organisations have agreed to share information on current and future cable transport projects worldwide. They will also study the opportunities for joint development of new projects and will respond jointly to bids of mutual interest in cable transport fields. “We

Turkish railways have undergone a complete overhaul due to significant investments over the last five years. In the majority of rail projects currently under way, investment is directed towards the construction of new high-speed rail (HSR) lines, electrification, extensions and upgrading of existing infrastructure. With u$18 billion allocated for the rail sector as part of the Turkey Vision 2023 plan, the country is expected to have a total conventional rail network length of 25,940 kilometres and a HSR net

According to international surveyors, Cluttons, the Muscat government’s announcement to investigate the possible introduction of a tram service across the city is the first sign of a long awaited public transportation infrastructure plan, with the city’s real estate landscape directly expected to benefit in the long term. While the exact details of the proposed route are yet to be revealed, it is clear that any move to introduce public transport will be well received and will go some way to alleviating t

The Audit Office of New South Wales (NSW) has found that although the Roads and Maritime Services and Transport for NSW has deployed many controls to protect traffic management systems, these would have been only partially effective in detecting and preventing incidents and unlikely to support a timely response. There was a potential for unauthorised access to sensitive information and systems that could have disrupted traffic. Until Roads and Maritime Services’ IT disaster recovery site is fully commiss

Cubic Transportation Systems has joined the Smart Cities Council, a coalition of industry thought leaders, innovators and practitioners dedicated to improving the liveability, workability and sustainability of the world’s cities. A booming global population puts pressure on cities facing the inevitable question of how to manage personal travel within geographic and infrastructure constraints. Cubic enables greater integration across all modes of travel by leveraging data to generate predictive, personali

Traffic management specialist Iteris has joined forces with Tightrope Media Systems with to bring real-time traffic information to Community TV channels serving southern California communities. BlueCommute is a software-defined program is based on Iteris’ broad range of intelligent transportation system (ITS) solutions, providing commuters with an up-to-the-minute display of travel conditions across local routes. The BlueCommute platform delivers that information to viewers as a rich media experience,