News

Parsons has been selected by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (PCJPB), which owns and operates Caltrain (the commuter rail line between San Francisco and San Mateo and Santa Clara counties), for design and installation of its $138 million interoperable communications-based overlay signal system positive train control (CBOSS PTC).

The government of Nepal has invited an expression of interest (EOI) from interested international companies for consultancy services for the detail survey and design of a 114km electrified railway Line from Simara to Tamsaria (114 km), Ram Krishna Wagel reports. The EOI also covers a 109km section of the proposed Mechi-Mahakali railway link to the border connection with India at Bhairahawa. Closing date of the EOI is 7 January, 2012 and full documents in PDF format, are available from Ram Krishna Wagel at e

PHH Arval has partnered with ZoomSafer to create what is being claimed as the fleet industry’s first smartphone application that detects when employees are driving and automatically encourages safe smartphone use.

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.

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.

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