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Nottingham Trent University undergraduate Charles Gale hopes his new hologram road signs which ‘pulse’ at drivers will lead to a revolution in the way motorists are given information on the roads. Utilising lenticular hologram technology, the signs display an animated reflective image which appears to pulse in day or night as road users approach and pass them.

Lithuanian Railways are set to benefit from new rolling stock following a US$65.3 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). After the support for the upgrading of railway infrastructure and purchase of new locomotives, this is now the third EIB operation aimed at modernising Lithuanian railways. “The EIB strongly promotes sustainable transport, and railways will remain one of the most energy-efficient and least polluting land transport modes. We therefore particularly welcome this agre

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the worldwide transportation association has announced the winners of its 2013 Toll Excellence Award competition that recognises excellence, innovation and achievement in the tolling industry. “This year’s submissions were particularly innovative,” said Patrick D. Jones, executive director and CEO of IBTTA. “There were many great examples of operations, technology, customer service and social responsibility, which made it difficult for our j

Siemens is to supply an intelligent transportation system for the Polish city of Poznan to integrate public and private transport in an effort to reduce congestion and enhance the attractiveness of public transportation. The contract, awarded by the Poznan transportation authority Zarząd Dróg Miejskich w Poznaniu (ZDM) is valued at around US$20 million. Commissioning of the system is scheduled for spring 2015.

Following a successful trial in London, Transport for London (TfL) has launched a new Countdown digital sign service, providing a new way to deliver tailored live bus arrival information cheaply and effectively to a range of public locations, such as hospital waiting rooms, schools or shopping centre foyers. The trial demonstrated the signs worked well, delivering clear, easily accessible information about local bus services, utilising existing IT and display equipment in public locations.

Founded in 1988, German industrial digital camera manufacturer is celebrating twenty-five years of innovation, with clear visions for the future. Basler was one of the first companies to put modern CMOS image sensors onto the market, to integrate powerful and user-friendly interface technology such as Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire and USB 3.0 into industrial cameras, and to take a leading role in the establishment of image processing standards such as GenICam, GigE Vision and USB3 that have gone on to global s

Swiss firm ABB has developed technology that it says can charge a full-sized electric bus during ordinary stops, removing the need for overhead lines in major cities. According to ABB, the bus can be charged with a fifteen-second, 400 kilowatt boost at selected stops, which allows for the vehicle to top off its charge while the passengers are loading or leaving the bus, and a three to four minute charge at the end of the bus line will then fully recharge the batteries.

TransCore’s work for the Delaware Department of Transportation (DELDOT) to convert the I-95 Newark toll plaza to open road tolling has received a National Recognition Award for exceptional achievement in engineering. TransCore served as the lead integrator on DELDOT’s conversion of the Newark Toll Plaza on I-95, adding two new electronic highway speed lanes on both the north and south bound plazas that successfully reduced congestion in a busy corridor for motorists and commercial freight carriers. Plaza th

David Crawford looks at moves to increase throughput and safety in work zones.

ABB has launched its Terra SmartConnect (SC) fast chargers for electric vehicles (EV) in North America. Terra SC can fully charge an electric car in thirty to 120 minutes and will be available with support for the CHAdeMO fast-charging standard, with SAE/combined charging system and will be available in the Americas in the second quarter of 2013. The charger has a full-colour eight inch touchscreen user interface, smart connectivity features and wall-mount connections, as well as optional features of RFiD a

Paul Godsmark gives his views on what the advent of autonomous vehicles would mean for the wider society. Further to your article ‘Driver not required…’ in the Jan/Feb edition of ITS International which gave some great background to autonomous road vehicle (ARVs), I feel that the bigger picture is needed to aid understanding. There is a ‘technology freight train’ heading our way that is going to transform our roadways but we don’t seem to be aware of it and, therefore, are in no hurry to react.

UK-based electronic security systems developer Cathexis Europe has integrated the new range of Canon full HD IP cameras into its CatVision video management software suite. The CatVision suite of software includes simple setup wizards for adding cameras and encoders, and caters for multiple video channel streaming. CatVision also supports bi-directional audio and I/O control on devices that provide those features. The Canon full HD network cameras all offer bi-directional audio and two inputs/two outputs. Al

Based on experience gained from its truck detection systems, Swiss company Tinynode has launched a wireless car parking detector, which can be used for off-street parking and is designed to be integrated with existing parking systems. Two models are available, the A4 which is screwed or glued on to the road surface, and the B4, which is embedded into the road surface. Both are easily installed and have a life of around ten years; batteries are easily replaced without disturbing the road surface.

The latest version of JDA transportation and logistics management from JDA Software Group features significant enhancements to previous software release, addressing all critical aspects of transportation planning, execution and modelling. The solution set includes advancements in end-user interactivity, global logistics capabilities and localised routing and is part of JDA eight, the recently announced JDA solution release built on a platform that brings together more than 30 different products, unifying su

McCain has introduced what it says is a new and improved Transparity TMS (traffic management system), developed to meet the demands of current transportation systems. Transparity TMS is said to be easy to learn and customise, while offering the functionality normally associated with central control software. The system has been completely redesigned on a modern platform to provide dependable monitoring and command of signalised intersections, and offers 24/7 access to real-time system data from any web-ena

All five megapixel 360 degree cameras produced by camera manufacturer AMG Systems are now Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) compliant. AMG has focused its efforts on fulfilling the ONVIF standard with the result that the entire range comprising the Panocam360, TotemCam360, mini TotemCam - PaNVR360 – and SmokeCam360 are now compliant. The cameras stream up to 12.5 frames per second and the onboard de-warping reduces the processing requirement in the control room. AMG says that offering up to fourte

David Crawford welcomes new lives for old road safety products. Traffic cones and barrels have traditionally been on the bottom shelf of the road construction and maintenance industry, typically forming visible soft safety barriers for temporary works at a lower cost than concrete alternatives. On both sides of the Atlantic, however, they are fast gaining new roles as instrumented components in advanced construction safety arrays. The EC-sponsored €1 million (US$1.31 million) Safelane collaborative innovati

David Crawford reviews developments in temporary ITS. Widespread take-up of technologies such as Bluetooth and wi-fi are encouraging the emergence of more sophisticated, while still cost effective, ITS responses to the traffic issues posed by temporary road situations such as work zones and special events. Andy Graham of traffic solutions specialists White Willow Consulting says: “A machine-to-machine radio link is far easier and cheaper than reading characters on a plate.” There can be other plusses. Tech

Seamless multi-modal traveller information services are becoming reality in the Danube Region. On 15th of March 2013, a Hungarian national holiday of which many people were unaware, unexpected extreme winter weather paralysed Hungary as well as large parts of Slovakia. Several thousand people were stranded on the region’s highways and the railways incurred delays of several hours. Not only did the transport system in the affected regions break down, the information flow to neighbouring countries was very sl

TruckWeigh and VanWeigh overload protection systems developed by Vishay Precision Group alert perators to any overload situation, allowing them to maximise their load and avoid fines while minimising the maintenance costs and safety risks of operating an overloaded truck. TruckWeigh is specifically designed for larger-capacity vehicles up to 60 tonnes with mechanical and/or air spring suspensions while the VanWeigh system is designed for twin-axle vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes with standard coil or leaf spring