List view / Grid view
28 October 2010 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor
Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) is a digital trunked mobile radio standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The purpose of the TETRA standard was to meet the needs of traditional Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) user organisations such as the military, those responsible for public safety at, for example,…
19 August 2010 | By Dr. Carlos Correia da Fonseca, Secretary of State for Transportation, Portugal
The 10 million residents in Portugal are distributed asymmetrically throughout the national territory, concentrating in urban areas and becoming increasingly scarce in rural areas. Two cities alone, Lisbon (the capital) and Oporto, concentrate around 40% of the population and well over half of national production. The strong concentration of populations…
19 August 2010 | By Dídac Pestaña, Executive Vice President, TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona)
The launch of service of Line 9/10 – the first automatic metro in Spain – is an example of how Barcelona is moving towards automation as a way of providing maximum support and efficiency to the underground public transport system. One of the country’s most relevant technological milestones has thus…
19 August 2010 | By Manuel Bravo Puente, Coordinator of Energy Installations in Civil Works, Metro de Madrid
The use of underground geothermal energy, as shown through the practical demonstration in the installations at Pacifico station of the Madrid Metro, makes it possible to heat and cool underground spaces, reducing energy consumption, CO2 emissions and machine maintenance by more than 40%. We can begin by saying that tunnels,…
19 August 2010 | By Teresa Stanislau, Operation Manager, Metro do Porto, Jorge Afonso Morgado, Director of Communication Office, Metro do Porto
The operation of Metro do Porto’s network is a huge challenge – combining the Red and Green suburban lines with the urban service of all the other lines. We intend to provide a different service for long and short distance clients that still offers both comfort and ease of access…
19 August 2010 | By J. (Sjef) A.L. Janssen, Managing Director, VDV-Kernapplikations GmbH & Co. KG and Hartmut Loerch Head of IT Management, VDV-Kernapplikations GmbH & Co. KG
Public transport in Germany is crucial for the economy of the country. Passengers use the system more than 10 billion times a year while the frequency of use has been growing steadily for two decades now. The increasing demand for public transport is fuelled by changes in the job market…
19 August 2010 | By Bruno dalla Chiara, Francesco Deflorio and Ivano Pinna, Transport Engineering, Politecnico Di Torino
The measurement of traffic data can be made with sensors, detectors and other various techniques with differences due to their applications, performance and costs, being these last related mainly to purchase, installation and maintenance.
19 August 2010 | By Noel Dempsey, Minister for Transport, Ireland
Metro North is a key element in the creation of a fully integrated rail based public transport network for the Greater Dublin Area as envisaged in Transport 21 – the Irish Government’s multi-billion transport infrastructure investment programme. Metro North will avail of a range of interchange opportunities with light and…
22 July 2010 | By Mark Elliott, Commercial Director, Accenture Infrastructure & Transportation Services
Open payment systems, which permit a range of payment options for consumers, are inevitable for public transportation. Customers want to be able to breeze through the metro turnstiles by simply ‘tapping' one of their existing payment cards, such as a bank-issued debit card. Even easier, they may relish the opportunity…
30 June 2010 | By Åsa Torstensson, Minister of Transport, Sweden
Public transport is an important element of society and it will be even more important tomorrow. It is a strategic tool to handle climate challenge and urbanisation. It contributes to wealth and growth through its provision of accessibility to everybody. It enables expanding regional labour markets through faster services. In…
30 June 2010 | By Matti Lahdenranta, Managing Director, Helsinki City Transport (HKL)
The Helsinki region ranks high in international benchmarking on public transport. It is well-known that an efficient public transport system is a major success factor in large urban regions. People need to get to work, have meetings to attend, go shopping and visit people. Also, corporate and retail transport should…
30 June 2010 | By Ole Sørensen, Light Rail Project Manager, Midttrafik and Lisa Bak Jensen, EIA-Coordinator, COWI A/S
As a consequence of the continual increasing load on the entire traffic system, the city of Aarhus has for some years being working to establish a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system. The first stage of the LRT encompasses a connection of the two existing railways (Odderbanen and Grenaabanen) and the…
30 June 2010 | By Thomas J. Potter, Chief Engineer, Bybanen AS
Forty-five years after trams disappeared from the streets of Bergen, 20 years after serious planning began, 10 years after financing was secured through the continuation of the city’s toll ring, five years after design started and two and a half years after the start of construction, Bybanen, the new light…
30 June 2010 | By Guillaume Lecoq, Public Transport Engineer, STIF (Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France)
A number of underground networks worldwide are gradually installing screen doors at the edge of their platforms to prevent passengers from falling onto the tracks. The first platform screen doors to appear in Paris were those used for the VAL line built to serve Orly airport. These were followed by…
30 June 2010 | By Geoff Dunmore, Chair of UITP Security Commission and Operational Security Manager, London Underground
2008 marked a turning point in the history of humanity. For the first time ever, more than half of the population (3.3 billion people) of the world now lives in urban areas. This figure is set to rise to five billion by 2030. This trend challenges the way urban spaces…
