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Crucial feedback on gas heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) has been provided by the Low Carbon Truck Trial, with the provisional results being detailed in a first report commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) which was published last week. Responding to the DfT report, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has said that it supported the trials stating that they have put more gas powered HGVs on the roads, whilst identifying the operational challenges of running gas vehicles. According to the re

Chile's public works ministry MOP has launched a long-delayed tender to expand and operate Santiago's international airport, the first big project to be awarded under President Michelle Bachelet's administration. The US$655 million project entails the construction of a 200,000 sq m terminal with two wings exclusively for international flights and two additional wings that will alternate between international and domestic flights. The tender was initially expected to be launched last year, under former

Real-time traffic video from TrafficLand’s international cameras is to be added to data visualisation software company IDV Solutions’ Visual Command Center, offering customers increased situational awareness. The integration of TrafficLand network video with Visual Command Center helps provide security operators with real-time information about risks to operations, threats to personnel and interruptions to supply lines. Security operations teams at Global 2000 corporations and government organisati

The controversial ecotax on heavy goods vehicles that sparked protests across France last year has been consigned to the scrapheap, according to a report in French newspaper The Connexion. Prime Minister Manuel Valls has confirmed that the government will roll out a new system of road tolls on trucks using roads with particularly heavy freight traffic. The charge will be imposed on vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes using 4,000 kilometres of roads that carry more than 2,500 heavy goods vehicles a day

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and Transport Research Board (TRB) are hosting the Automated Vehicles Symposium 2014 from 15-17 July at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport. The symposium will focus on challenges and opportunities related to the increasing automation of motor vehicles as well as the environments in which they operate. The symposium will build on the 2012 and 2013 workshops on the state-of-the-art in road vehicle automation research and will explore a

Launched by Osama Filali Naji, chairman of the ITS-Arab Transport Policy Working Group (TPWG) during the 10th ITS European Congress in Helsinki, the ITS-Index project has generated wide interest from the international ITS community. The project aims to develop a first-of-its-kind comparative index to evaluate and compare ITS competencies across regions with the objective of accelerating standardisation and encouraging ITS deployment that can improve transport management efficiency, safety and security.

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) and US automakers have responded to the announcement on legislation introduced by US Senators Marco Rubio and Cory Booker that would set deadlines on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for developing and publishing a test plan for the use of unlicensed devices in the 5.9 GHz band. The senators introduced S. 2505, the Wi-Fi Innovation Act, legislation to expand unlicensed spectrum use by requiring the Federal Communications Commissio

Having expanded its activities to the public transport sector, Kapsch CarrierCom’s public transport business unit has been successful in winning a US$13 million contract to implement a digital radio network based on the TETRA standard for Nexus, the strategic public transport body in the UK’s north-east. Based in Newcastle, Nexus owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is used annually by 37 million passengers. The new digital radio system will be installed on the Metro’s fleet of 90 trains, repl

Cubic Transportation Systems has launched a subsidiary called Urban Insights Associates, a consulting and services practice that aims to help the transportation sector utilise stored data to improve the services offered to travellers. The transportation sector gathers large volumes of data on vehicle locations, passenger numbers, ticketing and fare collection as well as from scheduling and asset management systems. According to Cubic, this data has the potential for deriving insights into planning and m

The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) has announced the inauguration of David Gibby as its new president for 2014/15. Gibby was welcomed into his role at a small Inauguration at CIHT’s central office in London. The new president’s theme for the year is ‘Making the Journey’, and over the next twelve months he will be exploring and developing the theme placing particular focus on: Making the career journey; Making transportation more accessible, focusing on improving access to our tr

Colombia's three airport concessions have shown significant growth over the past ten years, each increasing passenger flow by over 200 per cent, figures from the country's civil aviation body show. Bogotá's El Dorado international airport, which became a concession in 2007, grew 235 per cent, passing from transporting 7 million passengers in 2003 to transporting 25 million in 2013. Meanwhile, Cartagena's Rafael Núñez airport grew 224 per cent from 1 million passengers in 2003 to 3.3 million in 2013.

The UK’s first free-to-use online freight journey planner has hit a key milestone with more than 35,000 routes generated and 90,000 visitors to the site. The journey planner, operated by PIE Mapping and delivered via the UK Haulier website, provides freight operators and drivers a way to plan routes tailored to their vehicle size automatically avoiding commercial vehicle road restrictions.

UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is trialling the latest 360-degree camera system from Brigade and technology partner, ASL Vision, to further improve safety on its lorry fleet. As systems offering a surround view in a single image become more widespread on rigid trucks, M&S wants to find out if the benefits can be extended to articulated vehicles. An initial trial was set up using the Backeye 360 Elite system from Brigade Electronics with powerful software from ASL Vision at its core. The trial is now to b

Testifying on the future of surface transportation before the US House Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Toyota vice president Kristen Tabar, from the Toyota Technical Centre said Toyota is leading the way to ensure the next generation of vehicle communication brings the highest levels of safety, quality, and convenience to consumers. As cars become more connected to each other and the world around them, a new set of benefits and challenges have emerged.

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has announced its winners of the 2014 Toll Excellence Award competition that recognises excellence, innovation and achievement in the tolling industry. Winning agencies and projects include: