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Working in partnership with BusTech, Swinburne University of Technology has helped develop the first electric bus to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia. The first concept demonstrator bus was unveiled at the Maintenance Conference and Bus Expo in Melbourne. According to Pro vice-chancellor, International Research Engagement, Professor Ajay Kapoor, the research and development has involved solving the challenges of integrating electric vehicle technologies using computer-aided engi

Global Traffic Technology (GTT), the US-based company behind the Opticom emergency vehicle pre-emption (EVP) and transit signal priority (TSP) and Canoga traffic sensing products, has embarked on a major initiative to expand international sales outside of North America. More than 3,000 first response users of EVP system report improvements in response times of up to 25 per cent and a 70 per cent reduction in crashes. And according to company CEO Doug Roberts, initial feedback from the transit schedule ad

Tollaust, a subsidiary of toll road operator Transurban Group, has awarded Egis the contract for the management of incident response services of the Lane Cove Tunnel and the M2 motorway in Sydney, Australia. The contract commences at the beginning of October 2015 and will run for three years. The 21 kilometre M2 motorway and the 3.6 kilometre twin tunnel Lane Cove Tunnel are two urban motorways linking the M1 motorway and the fast-growing north-west suburbs of Sydney. Traffic on these two motorway se

According to the latest research by RnR Market Research, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) has been one of the fastest-growing sectors in automotive field and is expected to register a CAGR of 32 per cent during 2014-2019. Currently, developed countries in Europe and America have had nearly eight per cent of new vehicles equipped with ADAS, in contrast to about two per cent in emerging markets. It is predicted that over 25 per cent of new vehicles will carry ADAS by 2019 globally. The Global a

The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) has selected a joint venture of Johnson, Mirmiran and Thompson (JMT) and Parsons Brinckerhoff as general engineering consultant for the replacement of the Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge. The bridge, also known as the Potomac River Bridge, is a 1.7-mile (2.7 km), two-lane continuous truss bridge on US 301 that spans the Potomac River between Newburg in Maryland and Dahlgren in Virginia. The US$1 billion programmed budget involves replacing the existing structure

RATP Dev, via its subsidiary RATP El Djazaïr, has launched the Algiers metro line 1 extension, which it hopes will facilitate mobility in the greater Algiers region. The 12 kilometre line, which boasts 14 trains with six air-conditioned carriages, has three new stations and now connects the former Haï El Badr terminus to the El Harrach Centre station in the south-east of the city. The extension will eventually feature four new stations when the El Harrach station opens. Passenger numbers have risen e

The first US pay-per-mile road charging program went into operation in Oregon last week. OReGO is currently limited to 5,000 vehicles statewide; participants will pay 1.5 cents per mile while driving in Oregon and receive a credit on their bill for state gas tax paid at the pump. ODOT is asking participants for feedback and suggestions for improving OReGO along the way. "The doors are now open for Oregonians to enrol their vehicles and test-drive OReGO statewide," said Vicki Berger, chair of Oregon's

Alstom and Huawei have successfully completed a pilot project to develop a Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G multi-service broadband radio networking technology for metros. The project was launched in the frame of a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2014, under which Huawei supplied the LTE network and Alstom which provided the train set and onboard signalling equipment. Alstom claims to be the first rail manufacturer to integrate LTE 4G in its signalling solution. LTE technology enables a single wirele

Auckland Council in New Zealand has approved SkyPath’s resource consent application, meaning that the US$22 million public-private partnership can go ahead and could be built as early as 2016. SkyPath is a project to provide a shared path along the city side of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It will be an attractive, semi-enclosed facility that will appeal to recreational users and visitors as well as commuters. Combined with SeaPath to the north and the Westhaven Promenade to the south, SkyPath will link

Norwegian transport company Nobina has taken delivery of 36 Scania OmniExpress 3.20 LE Euro 6 gas-powered buses, which will replace older buses operating in the ski area, south-east of Oslo. The buses can be fuelled with compressed natural gas, CNG and biogas which all contribute to lower emissions of greenhouse gases and noise. Nobina is the largest bus transport company in the Nordic region, operating 4,000 buses across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.