News

The US Department of Transportation (US DoT) has selected the Battelle Memorial Institute to develop a new Transit Safety Retrofit Package (TRP) that will be used as part of the Safety Pilot model deployment. The focus of this procurement is to acquire a qualified team to integrate wireless Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology into transit vehicles and to develop research prototypes of appropriate safety applications on these vehicles. These applications must be interoperable with other ve

The San Francisco Bay Area's Clipper transit fare-collection programme has hit the magic one million active cards in circulation milestone. Staff at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) credit the surge to transit operator campaigns to transition more riders, especially youth and senior riders, from paper tickets and passes to the reloadable Clipper card before the end of the year.

A smartcard trial on Southern Railway has been officially launched by the UK transport minister, Norman Baker. ‘The Key’ offers rail passengers a quick and simple alternative to paper tickets and sees the installation of Vix smartcard platform validator units on the Coastway East service at stations between Brighton and Seaford.

Eltek has signed an agreement with Volvo Car Corporation for supply complete water-cooled on-board chargers with volume production starting in 2012 for a hybrid electrical vehicle programme. The Eltek EV Powercharger 3000 features an industry-leading 96 per cent power conversion efficiency, which minimises heat generation and battery charge time, and thereby lowers charging costs for consumers.

The Moroccan city of Rabat is studying the creation of an integrated transport network, which would initially involve tram and bus systems. As part of the 2030 vision, the Agence Urbaine de Rabat is planning on putting in place an integrated transport system covering the Rabat-Salé agglomeration and Témara, with the addition of a metro network This would link up the future TGV stations of Rabat-Agdal and Technopolis in Témara, and Salé, as well as the planned urban area in Akrach and the Rabat-Salé airport.

Innocorp’s new iPhone app Intoxicheck leads users through a simple set of before and after reaction, judgment and memory challenges so drivers clearly see how impaired they are in an effort to stop drinking and driving. Because it works on a smartphone, users have convenient access to the new iPhone app anywhere.

Innovative instrument clusters and head-up displays are becoming increasingly popular amongst OEMs and customers alike, according to IMS Research’s new automotive study, “The World Market for Automotive OEM Electronic Systems – 2011 Edition.”

The Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO), Canada, has selected Bentley Systems’ Power InRoads as its new transportation design solution, the first transportation agency worldwide to standardise on the company’s new stand-alone offering. Power InRoads includes the InRoads Suite, the drafting and document production capabilities of MicroStation, Bentley Map functionality, and seamless interoperation with the ProjectWise V8i system of collaboration servers and services, and Bentley Navigator V8i software f

Bombardier Transportation yesterday announced that it has secured an additional order, valued at US$296 million, for 130 Electrostar cars for Southern rail in the UK. The new trains, which will augment the operator’s existing fleet of Bombardier’s electric multiple units, will be manufactured in the UK with initial production commencing in the latter half of 2012.

According to a study by Pike Research of the market opportunity for telematics in plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), the annual revenue from sales of EV telematics will reach US$1.4 billion by 2017. Pike Research says that for electric vehicles, telematics can deliver information on electric usage, pricing, and state of charge to owners as well as helping drivers to check on the battery, the charge rate and even assist them to find the nearest charging station. The technology is likely to play a crucial role

Navteq has announced that North America and Europe coverage is now available on Esri ArcGIS Online and Data Appliance. Last summer, Esri launched Navteq map coverage for Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina on ArcGIS Online.

Cubic Transportation Systems is to provide a mobile service for rail and bus travel planning and ticketing for Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund (NVV).

The US ITS JPO has announced it will host a free public meeting and webinar to obtain stakeholder input on concepts, opportunities and needs for the Integrated Dynamic Transit Operations (IDTO) operational concept. The public meeting, which is set for the afternoon of January 26 and morning of January 27, 2012 in Washington, DC, will also be webcast at no charge.

The Tamil Nadu government in India intends to replace buses that have reached more than 700,000 kilometres in mileage or those that are more than six years old. The state government will spend US$82 million to buy 3,000 new buses, with the first phase involving the purchase of 520 new buses. Tamil Nadu government also plans to repair 1,432 buses, which will involve an additional investment of US$18 million.

The US DoT’s ITS Joint Program Office is operating a comprehensive free training programme on evaluating, procuring, and implementing standards-based ITS devices and systems. The ITS Professional Capacity Building Program (ITS PCB) consists of 18 distinct 90-minutes web modules. Concepts presented build from module to module and, with the exception of Module 1, each module has prerequisites and references content in earlier modules.