News

Pennsylvania’s Senate leaders have approved a comprehensive proposal to fund the state’s transportation needs, saying the measure is vital to public safety and economic development. Once approved by the House of Representatives, the proposal will allow the state to invest more than US$2.5 billion in highways and bridges, transit agencies, railways, airports and ports. Pennsylvania has more structurally deficient bridges – nearly 4,400 – than any other state, and 23 percent of its 44,000 miles of state-owned

California-based Cubic Corporation is in discussions to acquire the transport solutions business of UK traffic systems company Serco. Serco provides traffic management systems technology, traffic enforcement and the maintenance of traffic signals, emergency equipment and other critical road and tunnel infrastructure. Cubic believes the business has excellent specialist knowledge and capability in the enforcement, road and traffic markets. Transport Solutions support customers such as Transport for London, t

Two Competitiveness & Innovation Program (CIP) projects, Cosmo and Compass4D, met in a joint workshop at the 9th European ITS Congress in Dublin where partners discussed the deployment of cooperative systems in European cities. Both projects demonstrate the benefits of cooperative mobility services in realistic conditions and quantify their impact on increasing energy efficiency in transport. As the Cosmo project comes to a close, Compass4D is beginning and can benefit from Cosmo’s best practices and lesso

The NSW Government in Australia has confirmed that it is looking to procure driverless trains to serve its new North West Rail Link. Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian has revealed tender documents outlining plans for a fully-automated train control system for the new 23km rail link between Epping and Sydney’s North West district. Berejiklian said: “Fully-automated train technology has been in use around the world for 30 years, keeping customers safe and ensuring rapid transit systems like the one we

UK group Serco has won the contract to operate and maintain toll roads in Hong Kong as it looks to push further into the transport sector. Beginning in September, the contract is worth US$123 million over a minimum six-year base period to manage, operate and maintain the Tsing Sha Control Area of toll roads. Serco has been contracted to engage in toll collection, controlling and regulating traffic, vehicle recovery and rescue, patrols and handling of incidents. The contract also covers scheduled works inclu

New research by the UK’s RAC Foundation indicates that speed cameras reduce the number of fatal and serious collisions in areas where they are installed. Analysis of data for 551 fixed speed cameras in nine areas shows that on average the number of fatal and serious collisions in their vicinity fell by more than a quarter (twenty-seven per cent) after their installation. There was also an average reduction of fifteen per cent in personal injury collisions in the vicinity of the 551 cameras.

Norwegian toll systems supplier Q-Free is to supply its OBU610 on board toll tag to the Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT). Due to Q-Free’s use of new production technology, the US£2 million order will be delivered within a month. Q-Free’s universal OBU610 is designed to blend into the interior of any modern vehicle and supports all 5.8GGhz CEN DSRC protocols for automatic vehicle identification and toll fee collection.

TransCore’s SCATS adaptive signal control technology is featured as one of the notable success stories in the recent American Society of Civil Engineer’s (ASCE) 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. In the road category, the report spotlights the Atlanta smart corridor project that deployed SCATS along an extended stretch of highway with twenty-nine intersections. The speedy return on investment showed savings estimated at US$5.9 million annually due to reduced vehicle travel times and a 34 percent

A jury of six telematics experts from across the industry selected WirelessCar as the Best Telematics Product or Service Launch in an Emerging Market (BRIC Region) and recognised Martin Rosell, managing director of WirelessCar, who received the Telematics Leadership Award. These awards were presented in Detroit at the telematics conference and hosted by Telematics Update.

A number of towns and cities in England will benefit from US$7.7 million in funding to reduce pollution from local buses, local transport minister Norman Baker has announced. Local authorities will be able to bid for grants of up to US$1.5 million from the Department for Transport’s Clean Bus Technology Fund. This will allow them to upgrade local buses with pollution-reducing technologies such as cleaner engines or exhaust after-treatment equipment.

Audi drivers are to get a little help in their search for a parking spot, thanks to the new Inrix Park service. The new offering, which is being rolled out to Audi Connect users, provides detailed analysis of the best off-street parking options at 34,000 parking garages and structures across Europe. Audi drivers who use the service can get turn-by-turn directions to the car park, as well as rates and hours. In some cases, the service will even show the number of available parking spots.

Vitronic is to supply police forces in the Gulf region with 300 fixed PoliScan speed enforcement systems, including service and maintenance. The order is for the latest generation PoliScan speed LIDAR–based enforcement systems with high-resolution colour cameras. Delivery of the first fifty systems is scheduled for the end of July.

The European Drive C2X project has reached its main milestone in the successful implementation of the Drive C2X communication system and the start of field operational tests (FOT) of cooperative systems all over Europe. The third and final demonstration event on 13 and 14 June at the project's Swedish test site at Lindholmen Park in Gothenburg provides a unique opportunity for visitors to gain hands-on experience of the Drive C2X functions in a running FOT. Fostering the global deployment of cooperative sys

Hoping to lay the groundwork for a future integrated system across the state, Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) officials launched its first comprehensive transit plan that will attempt to create a complete picture of existing local systems, future needs and gaps in service. With no funding available to create a complete statewide transit system, transportation leaders are instead working towards integration among the existing local and regional systems, possibly with a CDOT-managed connector ope

Congested roads across England are to be tackled with US$253 million of funding, UK transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced. This is the second tranche of funding from the US$291 million Local Pinch Point Fund, first announced in December 2012. A further 62 schemes have won department funding, bringing the total number of schemes financed by the fund to 72. Combined with local contributions, the total investment rises to more than US$460 million.