safety

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Mon 18 Aug 2008

GAO Month in Review - July 2008

Posted by Matthieu Desiderio under PPP, air, freight, infrastructure, intermodal, logistics, mobility, passengers, public transport, regulation, road, safety, security, transport
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Here are the latest US Government Accountability Office (US GAO) reports about transportation, published in June 2008.

Wed 2 Jul 2008

GAO Month in Review - June 2008

Posted by Matthieu Desiderio under air, freight, maritime, passengers, regulation, safety, security, transport
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Here are the latest US Government Accountability Office (US GAO) reports about transportation, published in June 2008.

 

Wed 11 Jun 2008

In brief: High Speed Rail will invade Poland by 2020

Posted by Matthieu Desiderio under economics, environment, finance, high speed rail, infrastructure, passengers, politics, projects, rail, safety, transport
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Polish Government recently announced that the country will have its first high-speed rail line by 2020. The announcement was made during a French-Polish conference about intercity and urban rail transport. Infrastructures Minister Cezary Grabarczyk declared that this first project would link the cities of Warsaw, Poznan, and Wroclaw (west of the country). A high-speed rail line between the capital city and both western cities could, in theory, cut journey times by more than half.

€8 billion project, around 500 kilometres of tracks

The proposal will be submitted to the whole Polish Government early 3Q 2008, in order to launch the feasability studies. The Infrastructures Ministry plans to finish the preliminary studies by 2010. The Government aims to begin construction by 2014 and complete it in 2019, to start operation by 2020.

The project is evaluated at €8 billion (€6 to €7 billion for construction, and €1 billion for rolling stock), and the proposed Y-shaped-corridor has a main branch from Warsaw to Lodz, and two distinct legs going to Poznan and Wroclaw, respectively at 330 kilometres and 345 kilometres from Warsaw. With 35 trainsets running on the tracks, Minister Grabarczyk expects the trips to last around 1h30 while they are presently around 5h30 and 3h00 ! Also, what the Polish Government wants, is to link the network to the European already efficient high-speed rail network. (more…)

 

Fri 6 Jun 2008

In brief: Rouch Intermodal will track containers

Posted by Matthieu Desiderio under ITS, freight, intermodal, logistics, maritime, mobility, rail, safety, security, transport
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What is Rouch Intermodal?

Rouch was created in 1945 by André Rouch. In order to meet a need of transport services from the south of France towards Paris, Rouch started to develop combined transport in 1963, and a partnership was signed with Novatrans (rail operator), in 1967.

Several agencies were settled in Paris, Avignon, and Lille and at the end of the 1980’s, Rouch was bought out by an British company. It allowed the company to develop its international business until July 2000, when Rouch joined SNCF Group. SNCF Participations, a SNCF Group subsidiary that covers all of SNCF-owned companies, now owns 98.96% of the shares (see below for SNCF Participations combined transport companies).

Rouch Intermodal will track its containers

Rouch Intermodal started to equip its containers with a satellite tracking system, and becomes this way the first company to implement such a technology in France. The technology used includes a electronic boxes fixed on the container and power by a lithium battery. (more…)

 

Thu 5 Jun 2008

GAO Month in Review - May 2008

Posted by Matthieu Desiderio under PPP, air, economics, energy, environment, finance, freight, infrastructure, passengers, regulation, road, safety, security, transport
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Here are the latest U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO) reports about transportation, published in May 2008.

 

Fri 30 May 2008

Automatic buses in France: ended story?

Posted by Matthieu Desiderio under ITS, accessibility, infrastructure, intermodal, mobility, passengers, projects, public transport, rail, regulation, road, safety, transport
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Despite the good results of experimentations nothing happened since 2004…

In 2004, a first attempt of automatic minibus implementation was tested in Antibes (South of France). This was part of a research project called Cybermove (see website in the References below), which has analysed in details 11 sites in Europe. The purpose of Antibes demonstration was to show the people the general operation and functionality of the ParkShuttle system (using Frog vehicles: see the pictures on Cybercars website here). ParkShuttle was controlled automatically, and the required destination was selected by pushing on a control panel, in the vehicle.

Experimentation details

During a 10-days testing period, the shuttle took around 3,000 persons on a 320-metre long section, in front of the Vauban port. The hybrid shuttle, with a 20-passenger capacity, was guided by magnets implanted in the road. The obstacle detection was assured by a laser beam with a 30 metres outreach. The shuttle had 5 stops on its route and rode at 15 kph (around 10 mph), 9 hours a day.

Experimentation results

On the technical side, this experimentation was a success: very good reliability, easy set-up (the magnets were installed in only one night!), the control system never failed, the comfort was better than a mechanically guided system, and the obstacle detection has been a great success… despite the fact that pedestrians tried to burst in front of the shuttle at the last second.

The public considered the service was reliable, easy to use, and that is had good performances, was comfortable, noiseless, and “eco-aware”. (more…)

 

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