Features

He wants transparency in the working of his ministry and is known to often question sharply the company managements on the gap in the amount quoted and the actual cost incurred on road projects. He is often said to have chided them with questions like, “Don’t you have engineers to prepare the report before it comes to us for approval? If yes, how do they go wrong on the cost?” He doesn’t like speaking with the media as he feels his work must speak – the work of building 20km of roads a day becoming a reality, the work of improving the toll system, the work of trying to stop the parallel movement of money in the corridors of his ministry for clearance of projects. C P Joshi, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, is busy putting his ministry on the right track. He answered questions from Vidyottama Sharma on transport, traffic, transparency, and many other issues…

Dubai Metro, which promises to become the world’s largest Metro soon, will also be known for a unique initiative in the Middle East – the combi-card. This card will be a combination of a credit card and an electronic smart card that will enable commuters to pay for various transport modes in Dubai as well as use it as a credit card.

The taxi industry in the UK is a large and growing sector of the transport provision, but didn’t appear on the radar of the transport planners and policy makers in the past. However, it is now going through a period of changes in several areas. Currently, the UK Parliament’s Transport Select Committee is conducting an enquiry into certain aspects of ...

Donald Missey sums up the wrong policies, present transit practices and future solutions to many an issue in various states of the USA.

In our Urban Design section this time, we discuss certain issues that go in making a city green, and also address the pedestrian and traffic woes, instead of writing about the design of a structure

Lyon, France hosted two major ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) events in early June. Richard Harris, Global Director, ITS, Logica attended them. He writes exclusively for TrafficInfraTech on the two conferences. There is a considerable debate throughout Europe on the potential impacts of the European Commission Action Plan and Directive. While many countries welcome the initiative, some remain concerned about how ...

Gerard Tertoolen, Traffic Psychologist, XTNT at Utrecht, the Netherlands discusses how demographic and lifestyle changes can influence travel patterns. He says that by taking the wishes, motives and experiential values of mobile individuals into account as much as possible and by providing the right incentives at the right time, people can be induced to adjust their mobility patterns. Psychologists have ...

Indian Railways is upgrading its technology in use on Western and Central lines in Mumbai. Converting from direct current to alternating current, improving the speed of trains, increasing the life of trains by 10 years, and restricting power consumption are some of the steps being taken.

Dark Eye manufactures and supplies a wide range of safety products to numerous agencies in the country including government bodies developing roads and bridges, construction companies, the army and paramilitary forces. Kawaljit Singh, Managing Director, Dark Eye tells TrafficInfraTech how the road safety situation in India has changed drastically over the last decade.

Charlotte Wäreborn Schultz, Managing Director, Swedish Public Transport Association, writes about the ‘Doubling Project’ which aims to increase the share of public transport in Sweden twofold At the beginning of 2008, five organisations met to discuss the development of public transport in Sweden. These were the public transport trade organisations – the Swedish Public Transport Association, the Swedish Bus and ...