News

Frost & Sullivan’s recent customer research study on car sharing in select European cities reveals that the market is fast gaining ground. Residents in a number of cities in France, Germany as well as in the UK are currently multi-modal transport users. While only one out of four claim familiarity with the car sharing concept, once familiar, the interest levels in these services zip to 38 per cent.

At least 79 people were hurt on Saturday, some seriously, in a train crash at a Buenos Aires railway station where a deadly accident killed dozens just last year, raising even more concerns about the poor conditions. Railway officials said that there had been no earlier reports of problems during the train's journey and that they could not immediately determine the cause of the accident. Television footage showed various railway cars that had left the track and were on the platform after the train appa

Pedestrians, drivers and motorcyclists are being targeted in four new campaigns to improve road safety in London. Appearing from this week, the campaigns will run for the next six weeks and use various tactics to raise safety awareness among different road users. Earlier this year the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) launched a new road safety plan which set out a clear path towards helping to reduce accidents on London's roads. These new campaigns will build on the progress already made and aim to c

Indiana state agencies have begun procurement of toll systems covering some thirty lanes on three bridges over the Ohio River in the Louisville, Kentucky/southern Indiana metro area. Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) is procuring a toll system provider (TSP) to supply and install in-road loops or other vehicle detection, tracking and vehicle classification and cameras, together with a back office system, customer service centre and violations processing system and centre, along with operation and maintena

Chinese information and communications technology solutions provider Huawei is to supply its Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway (GSM-R) solution to the Turkish State Railways (Turkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryollari (TCDD)), to support the implementation of a modern digital railway communication network for the Kayas-Kayseri railway. Located on the Anatolia plateau, the 367-kilometre long Kayas-Kayseri railway line has 34 stations and 22 tunnels connecting the cities of Ankara and Kayseri

Brazilian highway and metro concessionaire CCR has signed a US$1.85 billion contract for a public-private partnership (PPP) to carry out phase II work on Bahia state capital Salvador's metro system in northeast Brazil. The PPP involves building a total of 33.4 kilometres of metro lines and 19 stations and includes building an extension to the metro's existing 6.6 kilometre line 1 and preparing a project to extend the line some a further 3.6 kilometres.

Global law firm Eversheds has advised the UK’s Highways Agency on the US$592 million contract for the implementation of a new free-flow charging system at M25 Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing. New technology which utilises number-plate recognition technology will allow drivers to use the crossing without having to stop at the barriers to hand over payment. Road users will be able to pay through a variety of methods including telephone, text, online and at retail outlets. Pre-paid accounts which qualify

While the financial community praises Chile as a safe haven and pioneer in Latin American infrastructure, investors say that political leaders lack commitment to push for projects, and they have called for the creation of an independent authority to plan public works and coordinate projects. Chile's construction chamber has proposed the installation of an agency, such as those that exist in Canada and New Zealand, which would be independent from the national government and would plan long-term infrastruc

US driving performance solutions provider SmartDrive Systems has added active safety system data elements to its SmartDrive Safety program via direct integration to its data and video event recording platform. This integration expands the capabilities of the SmartDrive platform by capturing data generated from a carrier’s third-party active safety systems and intelligently determining the difference between a high-risk and low-risk event.

US-based detection technology company Aldis has received UK Highways Agency approval for its 3D vision-based vehicle and pedestrian detection system with tracking for traffic signal control and data collection. Aldis GridSmart replaces in-road detection technology with a single, static 3D camera at signal controlled junctions. The system can also be used for multi-directional traffic surveys, including complex turning movements and vehicle classification, as well as pedestrian detection and counting.

An innovative re-surfacing technology that generates its own energy during the day while enhancing visibility at night is being trialled by Cambridge City Council in the UK. Starpath, developed by Surrey-based Pro-Teq Surfacing, is a liquid-based re-surfacing product that absorbs and stores energy from ambient light (UV rays) during the day, then releases this energy at night, allowing the particles to glow. It has recently been applied to an existing pedestrian and cycle way pathway that runs through h

Moxa’s passenger information and communication systems have achieved Iris certification, one of the most stringent international standards. The Iris standard is formulated by Union of the European Railway Industries (UNIFE) and combines the general quality requirements of ISO 9001 with stringent process and railway-specific requirements such as technical safety policies, project management, life cycle cost, obsolescence management and configuration management.

Speaking ahead of the MENA Rail and Metro Summit 2013 in Abu Dhabi 28-30 October, Yiwen Wang, chief technology officer, MEA Government and Enterprise Business, ZTE Corporation, spoke of the need for an intelligent rail system to enhance the approximately US$250 billion worth of rail projects planned or under way in the GCC countries. He said intelligent as applied to rail transport has two aspects: “One is to introduce mature next generation communication technology into the rail transit system, the othe

Ireland’s National Roads Authority (NRA) has awarded a five-year contract worth US$4.9 million to Finnish road weather information solutions provider, Vaisala for the supply of winter maintenance decision-making tools, solutions and services. The turn-key contract is the continuation of a long-standing partnership between Vaisala and the NRA, and includes maintenance of over eighty weather stations across Ireland as well as a provision for expanding the network with new weather stations and thermal mappi

Navtech Radar is demonstrating its AdvanceGuard wide area surveillance solution in a live busy environment, in the middle of Hammersmith Road in Central London during TranSec 2013. AdvanceGuard will be shown with the analytical control software suite, Witness and integrated with the new Predator TC100 Day/Night camera from 360Vision.