News

In a bid to increase efficiencies and reduce delays for passengers, the UK’s Network Rail is trialling ‘formation flying’ engineering trains to repair and renew the 20,000 miles of railway track it is responsible for maintaining. It says this new approach to engineering could potentially save taxpayer-funded Network Rail US$313,000 (£250,000) per week in costs by allowing trains to run at higher speeds once engineering is complete. The pioneering technique was used successfully at Sandy, Bedfordshire, on

Video surveillance specialist Hikvision is to establish an R&D Centre in Montreal, Canada and a Research Institute in California’s Silicon Valley, California. Expected to open in 2017, the Montreal Hikvision R&D Centre will focus on engineering development. The Silicon Valley Hikvision Research Institute will focus on broad technology research.

The Dutch town of Bodegraven is piloting a new pedestrian traffic signal which it hopes will warn pedestrians staring at their mobile phones that they are about to cross the road. Developed by local firm HIG Traffic Systems, the +Lichtlijn or +Lightline, consists of an LED lighting strip in the pavement near intersections linked directly to traffic signals and changes from red to green to alert distracted pedestrians that they may safely cross. According to DutchNews, the Dutch road safety organisatio

Clearview Intelligence has been awarded two new contract wins by Transport for London (TfL) to work on the supply and maintenance of automatic traffic and cycle counting equipment across the TfL road network. The contract not only covers regular scheduled maintenance of existing equipment but also the supply of any new or replacement equipment when required across the 304 automatic counter sites and the 170 automatic cycle counter locations. These contracts have been awarded on an initial two year ba

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has signed an agreement with Tesla for the purchase of 200 hybrid electric vehicles fitted with several components of autonomous driving technologies. The new vehicles will add to the limousine fleet of the Dubai Taxi Corporation. The RTA is to carry out a test run of Tesla autonomous hybrid electric vehicles as part of the Dubai Taxi limo fleet as part of its objective to support the Dubai Government efforts in transforming Dubai into the smartest city i

Spanish technology multinational GMV has begun a two-year collaborative project with Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Australia and New Zealand Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) for the deployment of a satellite positioning augmentation system. The objective of the project is to show the potential benefits of satellite navigation technologies in Australia, including integrity and high precision applications. The project aims to make Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) a

Following 'dieselgate', the previously lax automobile emission testing procedures tightened and all European original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are now required to implement real driving emissions (RDE). In September, RDE testing will have a conformity factor of 2.1, which will change to 1.5 by September 2021. OEMs will be more transparent with their testing methods and results. After the implementation of RDE, adoption of World Harmonisation Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) will be simpler. The

A new study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute analysed recent changes in the United States in both the ownership of light-duty vehicles (cars, pickup trucks, SUVs and vans) and the corresponding distance driven. The study looked at the rates per person and per household over the period 1984 to 2015. The main findings were: The vehicle-ownership rates per person and per household both reached their maxima in 2006. The two rates for 2015 are down, on average, 4.4 per cent f

Passenger drones could be seen in the skies above Dubai as early as July 2017, according to the city’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA). Speaking at the World Government Summit, Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of RTA, said the pilotless drones, designed to carry a weight of 100kg and a small suitcase, will have a range of 50 km and are on track to take off beginning in July 2017. The drones are part of Dubai’s strategy on autonomous transportation, under which 25 per cent of all journeys within the Emirat

Cintra and Plenary, which have a long history of partnering on infrastructure projects, have combined to create a joint venture business to compete in the Australia and New Zealand road infrastructure market, with a focus on toll road and concession projects. Netflow brings construction capability through Cintra’s sister business Ferrovial Agroman. Cintra CEO Enrique Diaz-Rato said Netflow will play an important role in creating competition in the sector by looking to develop roads with a sharp focus on

Here has announced plans to partner with Japanese car electronics company Pioneer Corporation to deliver fully integrated global SD (standard definition) and HD (high definition) mapping solutions mapping solutions and next generation location-based services for the automotive and other industries. These solutions are intended to support new innovations for customers in in-vehicle infotainment and autonomous driving as well as in any industry where location intelligence can be applied. Here and Pioneer

Sensys Gatso Group has received orders for traffic safety systems valued at US$1.3 million (SEK 11.9 million) from the Flemish Government in Belgium. According to Sensys Gatso, the Belgian market is an important one for the company, which has already received an order from the Belgian Capital Region this year. The country’s market is regionalised and consists of several customers.

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has awarded International Road Dynamics (IRD) a five-year traffic data collection installation and maintenance contract valued at US$7.34 million. Under this agreement, IRD will install, upgrade, repair, operate, and maintain permanently installed traffic data collection sites located within the state of New York. Six types of traffic data collection sites are covered under this contract, including continuous count, automatic vehicle classification

Nedap and local partner Cross have teamed up to monitor on-street parking in the Turkish city of Izmir. As part of a city wide implementation of traffic management, 2,000 parking spaces have been equipped with Nedap’s wireless parking sensor system Sensit, integrated with the Cross InVipo traffic management platform. The system monitors vehicle occupancy of individual parking spaces and provides motorists with real-time information on available spaces via a wide network of variable message signs. In add