News

Kinkisharyo International, a supplier of low-floor, light-rail vehicles in North America, has undertaken a demonstration in Dallas, Texas, for officials and invited guests of the AmeriTram, the company’s prototype of the 100 per cent low-floor, electro-hybrid streetcar specifically designed for North America.

Innovative fast-charging systems for electric vehicles are now being supplied to Norway. The country is buying the high speed charging technology from Epyon, a Belgian supplier. Norwegian firm Lysi Energi is purchasing the commercial charging stations for electric vehicles in a bid to build a nationwide network. Epyon recently installed a Terra 51 Charge Station in Sandnes, near the E39 highway to Stavanger, and plans installations at least at two more locations in the next two months.

German company Vitronic and its subsidiary Vitronic Baltica together with the Latvian company SIA Komerccentrs DATI Grupa have won a tender for 130 speed enforcement systems to be deployed throughout Latvia. 100 systems will be operated in 160 stationary housings, while 30 units will be used for mobile speed enforcement.

TagMaster, together with its Chinese distributor Richor and FTRD, a technology supplier to the rail industry in China, have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) which covers the joint development of an RFID system for use on mainline railways in China. The RFID system will form part of a new onboard warning system which will be used to improve train safety when passing temporary speed limits and work sections along the line.

According to a recent report from Pike Research, the trend toward cleaner transit buses will continue over the next several years, and by 2015 the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that alternative fuel vehicles will represent more than 50 per cent of the 64,000 total transit buses that will be delivered worldwide during that year, up from 28 per cent of total bus deliveries in 2010.

Nedap AVI has won a Best Innovation Product award in the Access Control and Visitor Management systems category at the 16th Moscow International Protection, Security & Fire Safety exhibition for its uPass Reach long-range RFID reader. Using the latest in UHF technology, the uPass Reach reader guarantees long range vehicle identification up to four metres. Based on the use of battery free, passive UHF transponders, the reader output allows the access control or parking system to open the gate when authorised

Germany-headquartered INIT has announced the signing of a contract with California’s Gold Coast Transit (GCT) to provide an advanced scheduling solution (Mobile-Plan) for its fixed-route fleet. The software solution is already in operation in numerous projects around the world and will assist GCT in realising a more efficient schedule planning and resources allocation.

Spanish IT firm, Eptisa TI, has developed a new computer which will allow the Spanish regional government for Aragon and road concession companies to maintain control of their road network and manage possible incidents. The system, based on ESRI’s Geographic Information System (GIS), will allow companies to manage eight sectors which contain some 2,400 km of roads which are the responsibility of the Aragon government. The new system is part of the RED Project, which is budgeted at over US$949 million for

TagMaster has announced the installation of automatic vehicle identification for access control in Conakry Harbour, West Africa. The installation is being handled by TagMaster’s systems integrator, ETL Security of Conakry West Africa.

TagMaster has announced the installation of automatic vehicle identification for access control in Conakry Harbour, West Africa. The installation is being handled by TagMaster’s systems integrator, ETL Security of Conakry West Africa.

The authorities in China claim that tough new laws against drink driving are already having a major benefit for road safety, according to the official news agency Xinhua. The latest official statistics reveal a sharp drop in road accidents caused by drink driving over a recent long holiday weekend. The newly amended law imposes harsher punishments on drunk drivers, with police also taking a tough line on enforcement.

The American Crisis in Transportation Coalition (ACT) has been formed to expand national understanding of the serious deterioration of America’s transportation system, and to educate the public and Congress on the funding needed to save the system from continued decline.

The Ziegler Group has selected the Trimble CarCube fleet management system for its fleet of 2,000 heavy goods vehicles across Europe. The system is a comprehensive fleet management solution that offers a suite of features designed to improve efficiency and communication between fleet operators and their drivers. These include driver identification; navigation capabilities; task planning and status reporting; trailer identification and verification; journey time assistance to comply with European Union regul

Ctrack is launching a telematics solution for vehicle insurers in the UK to rate how, when, where and by whom a vehicle is driven. The company, a leading provider of vehicle tracking solutions in the UK, says that Ctrack Intelligent Insurance offers providers an alternative means of determining individual vehicle premiums, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice in March this year that prevents gender being taken into account as a risk factor.

Johnson Controls has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court to dissolve the Johnson Controls-Saft joint venture which was formed in 2006 to develop and manufacture lithium-ion motive battery solutions.