News

The State of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has selected TransCore ITS to provide its TransSuite traffic control system for managing and centralised monitoring of existing traffic signals statewide. The TransSuite system will be the cornerstone of Caltrans’ strategy to proactively manage traffic through the monitoring of traffic signals and traffic conditions at state-operated intersections. As part of the project, TransCore ITS will develop an interface to the Caltrans controller firmwa

Despite competition clearly increasing within the contactless ticketing market, NXP maintains a dominant foothold, through its line of MiFare solutions, according to ABI Research which says the company achieved a combined market share in excess of 70 per cent for 2011 smart card and RFID ticketing IC shipments. The OSPT continues its quest in penetrating the market with CiPurse product and has certainly had a successful 2012, completing pilots and trials worldwide, leading to two on-going commercial deploym

By awarding Siemens Rail Systems a contract to modify and refurbish 21 light rail vehicles (LRV), Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) says it will add to its fleet at a fraction of the cost of new vehicles. RT acquired the vehicles, originally built by Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC) - from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. The vehicles originally went into operation in 1987 and have been in storage since RT acquired them in 2003. They are now needed for RT's expanding s

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has released the industry's first major comparative analysis of roll stability systems based on carrier operational data. The institute’s analysed crash rates, crash costs, and technology costs for roll stability control (RSC) and electronic stability control (ESC) systems compared to vehicles without any roll stability systems technology. The research, based on data from over 135,000 heavy trucks, indicated that installation of RSC technology may resul

Kapsch TrafficCom has received a first order for the delivery of on-board units (OBUs) from Brazil. The order has come from SINIAV (Sistema Nacional de Identificação Automática de Veículos) which is an agency of the Ministry of the Cities (MC) and the National Traffic Committee (CONTRAN) in Brazil which foresees the mandatory electronic registration for all vehicles in the country, including passenger cars, trucks and motorbikes.

Jenoptik Traffic Solutions division is moving purposefully ahead with its business expansion in Asia by winning a technically highly challenging traffic safety project in Hong Kong and will be supplying over 30 installations, consisting of a mix of fixed, tunnel and mobile speed enforcement applications in the Tsing Ma and Tsing Sha Control Areas. An approval authority delegation from Hong Kong visited Jenoptik Robot in Germany to successfully perform a factory acceptance test. Close to 70 tests were perfor

Clever Devices has closed a transaction to acquire substantially all of the assets of Digital Recorders, a provider of ITS to public transit agencies throughout North America and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Recorders, (DRI), which filed for bankruptcy in March, 2012. Digital Recorders will become a division of Clever Devices, a technology solutions specialist for all modes of public transportation, including fixed-route, bus rapid transit, paratransit and rail.

A new transportation infrastructure that proposes to revolutionise the way electric vehicles (EVs) are used in the future has been unveiled. The TEV project uses a standardised pre-fabricated construction to greatly reduce local construction costs to deliver mass transport, across all types of terrain, anywhere in the world. It is being developed as an open-source venture, achievable now, using existing technologies. “With a specialised two-lane track, the size of a narrow country road, the capacity on the

3M’s decision to acquire the business of Federal Signal Technologies Group (FSTech) from Federal Signal Corporation for a purchase price of US$110 million in cash provides an insight into the company’s view of the tolling industry’s future health. 3M says the fast-growing US$3 billion electronic tolling industry is projected to grow at a rate greater than 12 per cent per year as government agencies increasingly rely on tolling to fund roadway infrastructure, construction and maintenance. The company says FS

Gatso has officially handed over a section control project on the A2 from Amsterdam to Utrecht to the traffic enforcement team of the Netherlands National Public Prosecutor’s Office (LPTV). The installation on the A2 is an automatic traffic enforcement solution on a highway with five lanes and two hard shoulders. For environmental reasons, the maximum speed limit has been set to 100 km/h instead of the former 120 km/h.

Boston-Power, a provider of next-generation lithium-ion battery cells, modules and systems, has announced a multi-year agreement to provide battery systems to Beijing Electric Vehicle Company (BJEV), the electric vehicle delivery arm of Beijing Automotive Industry Company (BAIC). Under terms of the agreement, Boston-Power’s battery systems are expected to support multiple BJEV models and brands. Availability of pre-ordered vehicles begins in fourth calendar quarter 2012 with the C70 sedan, which is based on

US-based provider of management and technical support services, AECOM, has been appointed to undertake 15 per cent concept designs for a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Western Australia. The system will be between Bassendean and Ellenbrook train station in Perth and 6,500 people are expected to use BRT daily by 2031. AECOM says it expects to complete the design work by March 2013 and it will do planning for stations, park and ride facilities and integration for existing and future usage of land.

EC Harris has secured as role in plans for a US$9.87 billion metro system in Doha. As part of a project management team led by Jacobs Engineering of the US, EC Harris will provide commercial risk management for the 'red' metro line. Jacobs and two other consortia were appointed by QRail to manage the scheme in July 2012. The 'green' line will be managed by Hill International, while the 'gold' line and two major stations will be managed by Egis Rail and Louis Berger.

Speeding tickets have brought US$398 million in revenue to the French government over the first six months of 2012. Antai, the national agency for automated processing of traffic violations expects US$830 - $860.5 million in revenue for the full year compared to $785.56 million in 2011. The number of speed cameras deployed throughout France is expected to reach 2,200 by late 2012. The expansion programme cost nearly $246 million in 2011 and it is believed that the budgetary policy will change after 2013. Ra

Brazil's government has given private engineering company Estruturadora Brasileira de Projetos (EBP) 150 days to prepare technical studies for seven road stretches which are earmarked for privatisation. The concession auctions will involve 5,700km of state roads, the largest being a 1,423km stretch linking three motorways in Mato Grosso do Sul (BR 163, BR 267 and BR 262) to the Mato Grosso/Sao Paulo border.