International

The UK, which loses an estimated $6.6 billion annually due to traffic congestion caused by road repair works, plans to charge companies that carry out utility repair works during the peak traffic hours on roads, especially the busiest roads. The measure will be implemented under a proposed ‘lane rental’ scheme, under which city councils could charge utility companies ‘rent’ for ...

The Flying Banana Mk. II, an electric motorcycle produced by Lightning Motorcycles, Utah, USA, became the world’s first electric motorcycle to break the 200mph barrier when it achieved a cruising speed of 215mph this August, breaking its own best speed of 176mph set in 2010. The bike is powered by Remi Electric HVH250 electric propulsion motor and an Ener 1 ...

SITA, the leading air transport specialist, has reached a landmark of two million messages per day sent by more than 10,000 aviation users, air traffic controllers, airline operation centres and air and engine manufacturers using its services. The ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting system) messages, sent through SITA, and supported by data link processing centres in Montreal and Singapore ...

Faced with an ageing transportation infrastructure, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has set up a $417 million grant to fund research into novel and innovative materials for building bridges and other infrastructure. Nearly all the US states have applied for the federal funding with the funding requests adding up to $13 billion – about 30 times the funds available. ...

AFCONS Infrastructure has bagged a $66.3 million contract from the Bahrain government to construct a three-level highway interchange with a two-lane flyover, and a tunnel with three lanes in each direction. The interchange, which will be built between King Fahd Causeway and Khaifa bin Salman Port, is expected to ease traffic congestion considerably when it opens in 28 months.

The 26.4 miles long Jiaozhou Sea bridge of China, opened three months ago, has become an engineering marvel. It has snatched the title from the USA’s Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana by stretching by two-and-a-half miles longer. The six-lane 110 foot wide, Y-shaped bridge across the Jiaozhou bay which cost US $2.3 billion and took four years to build, has ...

China recently tested a high speed bullet train on the Beijing-Shanghai route. On its inaugural run the train carried government officials including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, managers of companies such as China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry Corp that built the train, and reporters. It covered a distance of 1,318km in about five hours at a speed of 300km/hr. ...

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai has revealed that pedestrian fatalities on the emirate’s roads have declined by 35% to 11 deaths during the first three months of 2011, compared with 17 during the same period last year. The Authority notes that over 67% of the accidents have occurred at night time. The fall in numbers has been ...

US based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently awarded its highest safety award – Top Safety Pick to the new Lexus 2011 hybrid CT 200h. IIHS, an independent not-for-profit research and communication body, awards the Top Pick award to vehicles that are fitted with electronic stability control and achieve a rating of ‘good’ in their tests for front, side, ...

The Konkan Railway Corporation (KRCL) Ltd will test an updated version of its patented Anti Collision Devices (ACDs) by September this year. The tests and evaluation will be carried out by an independent agency, the Electronics Test and Development Centre, at Chennai. The ACD devices that can be mounted on rail locomotives and can also be deployed along the tracks, ...