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Former US transportation secretary Ray LaHood says Congress needs to learn there’s more to transportation funding in the 21st century than building more roads and bridges. He urged smart transportation advocates attending the Smart City Council’s Smart Cities Now forum in San Diego this week to take their message to Congress. There are new people in Congress who are going to write a transportation bill, LaHood suggested, and if they don’t incorporate all of the smart technologies that the forum has

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) has brought together key industry stakeholders and policy makers to review the opportunities and challenges related to passenger car connectivity. The conference explored how automotive connectivity technologies could revolutionise personal mobility, as well as examining some of the challenges faced in rolling out connected cars. ACEA president Carlos Ghosn, European Commissioner for Digital Society and Economy Günther Oettinger, and Director Gene

The latest webinar by Iteris, ‘MAP-21 Solutions: Leveraging NPMRDS for Performance Measurement’ on Wednesday, 17 December 17 at 11 a.m. EST will inform participants how to maximise the value of their NPMRDS data set. As MAP-21 increases requirements for performance measurement and reporting, having the tools to effectively analyse transportation system data is a must. With the availability of the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) from FHWA, agencies have access to Big Data for th

Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has appointed a consortium of four companies as the general consultant for the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro, the city’s first fully-underground Metro route and said to be one of the city’s most expensive transport infrastructure projects. The consortium, led by Hong Kong’s AECOM Asia, includes other companies such as Japan’s Padeco, US-based Louis Berger Group and France’s Egis Rail. A team of 26 specialists will work on the US$ 3.74 billion project, according to the

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has selected the New Zealand subsidiary of Unisys Corporation as the prime system integrator to lead the modernisation of the national crash analysis system (CAS). Under the six-year contract, Unisys will lead the design and implementation of a new version of the CAS based on an open platform, which will provide the flexibility to integrate with other systems, departments and agencies. Unisys will host the CAS in its Auckland data centre and deliver the solution t

A government announcement has revealed that the UK’s Highways Agency will be replaced with Highways England and will be a government-owned company from April 2015. In support of the changes, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has said that “the new name reflects the importance of its new role.” In its first strategic business plan, Highways England sets out how the new body will deliver the Government’s US$23.5 billion road investment programme over the next five years. The plan envisages spend

Utrecht municipality Bestuur Regio Utrecht (BRU) has awarded the construction of the US$547 million Uithof tram line to Royal Bam Group, with construction set to start next year ready for passenger services in mid-2018. Spanish supplier CAF will be responsible for the supply of 27 low-floor trams with delivery set from January 2017. The contract includes the construction of the eight kilometre-long tram infrastructure, including tram tracks, overhead lines and nine stops.

The EU's TEN-T Programme is to provide function of over US$1 million for development studies of the Austrian port of Linz, an important intersection of continuously increasing international freight flows between inland water, rail and road transport. The project aims to increase the port's capacity to receive larger inland water, rail and road transport flows. The project features design studies for the expansion of the tri-modal terminal at the port to address its growing needs. It will deliver a maste

Flir's ThermiCam thermal sensors have been installed at a major signalised intersection with the Utrechtseweg (N237) and Wilhelminalaan in Utrecht in the Netherlands In a bid to smooth traffic flows while also taking account of the presence of cyclists. ThermiCam is an integrated thermal camera and detector for vehicle and cycle presence detection and counting at signalised intersections and provides an alternative to in-road loops. The sensor detects heat energy generated by cyclists and motorists and

An Arup-led consortium, UK Autodrive, has won the UK Government’s US$15.6 million ‘Introducing Driverless Cars’ competition. Other members of the consortium are Milton Keynes Council, Coventry Council, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford Motor Company, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, RDM Group, MIRA, Oxbotica, AXA, international law firm Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, the Transport Systems Catapult, the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and the Open University. The aim of the project is to establis

Cubic ‘s NextBus fleet management application has received the Most Innovative New Product (MIP) award in the Communications and IT category at the annual 2014 CONNECT MIP Awards, CONNECT's largest and most prestigious event, attracting more than 700 of the region's top business leaders, researchers and capital providers In addition to the eight companies honoured for their outstanding new products, the Distinguished Contribution Award for Technology Innovation went to Dr Robert S. Sullivan who has serv

The WestConnex Delivery Authority (WDA) in Sydney, Australia, has awarded Kapsch CarrierCom subsidiary, Kapsch CarrierCom Australia, the contract to supply a roadside tolling system to support capacity enhancement to the M4 motorway widening project as part of Stage 1 of the WestConnex motorway scheme in Sydney. The award covers two contracts for the initial phase of the project, one for the roadside equipment for the M4 widening segment and one for maintenance and support. The project is designed to in

The European FP7 project TRANSFORuM is to release four stakeholder-driven roadmaps towards the implementation of the European Commission's White Paper on Transport on 8 December. TRANSFORuM focuses on four goals of this document and provides recommendations for: Clean urban mobility, with the goal of halving the use of conventionally fuelled cars by 2030; shifting 50 per cent of long-distance freight over 300 kilometres to rail or waterborne by 2050; High-speed rail; and Multimodal transport information,

Plans for a US$427 million light rail transit (LRT) system in Brazil's Minas Gerais state are moving forward. The project, for Uberlândia city, is being spearheaded by Uberlândia federal university (UFU) and the local authorities. A draft proposal was presented to the public this week for feedback and the university is now working on a basic engineering plan. City hall and the federal government would seek funding for the construction of the project. The LRT will have two lines, one spanning 6.9 kilom

The EU's TEN-T programme will invest almost US$4.3 million in studies preparing a European network of hydrogen infrastructure for transport. The network is expected to enhance the use of fuel cell vehicles in Europe leading to cuts in overall transport emissions. The uptake of fuel cell cars, zero emission vehicles that run on electricity powered by hydrogen, depends on the availability of refuelling infrastructure on the main European roads. This project is the second part of a larger action aiming