Providing Traffic Solutions on Highways

At a time when the world is trying to move towards “smart traffic”, the transportation infrastructure the world over is being focused increasingly towards better traffic management and enhanced tools and services to achieve the vision. While in cities, the necessary infrastructure is available for meeting exigencies such as accidents and breakdowns, the same is nearly missing from the highways. What is needed in these situations is a reliable and effective Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS).

Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), through its Control & Automation Business Unit, and with its largest HTMS installation base in India, provides state-of-the-art solution and world class quality of services, suiting the Indian conditions. It is dedicated to safe traffic atmosphere while ensuring smooth traffic movement and protecting the environment.

HTMS for Indian Environment

With road safety and pollution still being major challenges to transportation planners and uncertainty rife on the future of fossil fuel, countries around the world have been working on solutions to make road transportation as safe, smooth and sustainable as possible.

“While developed countries can introduce technologies like Variable Message Signs and other information systems with major focus on technology development, India has to also take into account other factors like public awareness, literacy, indisciplined driving, extreme environmental conditions, heterogeneous traffic patterns and scarcity of infrastructure. The solution provider, therefore, plays a key role in helping promote a holistic development of technologies integrated with operational aspects catering to the Indian road infrastructure,” says a HTMS expert.

L&T – Control and Automation addresses three main aspects of HTMS:

• Safety & Security

1. Accident prevention/Incident detection
2. Post-incident response & management

• Reliability & Scalability

1. Addressing unstated needs of traffic management not mandated in any of the guidelines
2. Seamless integration of hardware and software
3. Software customisation to suit Indian conditions

• Long term service commitment through

1. Experienced Technology Cell to ensure long term support
2. Uninterrupted life cycle service over Concessionaire period

Control & Automation’s iVisionmax – TraffiX™, an indigenous development, has been designed in a modular, scalable and configurable fashion and delivers the following aspects of HTMS in an efficient way:

• Accessibility in emergency situations, such as vehicle breakdowns, accidents etc.
• Online traffic monitoring
• Capacity management
• Incident detection and proactive measures to avoid accidents
• Guidance on speed limits, weather conditions and traffic diversions for travel time improvement
• Predicting the longevity and sustainability of roads by determining the traffic density

Majority of the highway projects in India are awarded on a Build-Own-Operate (BOT) basis and can have concessionary periods for over 12 years. L&T, which has a strong presence in India and across the globe, has technology under its control through Control & Automation’s in-house Technology Cell. Thus, it avoids long lead times over management processes that are often encountered with foreign suppliers whose development centers are based overseas. With its quality systems extended to its supply chain management, L&T’s spares management is optimal, thereby ensuring minimal downtime of the subsystems.

“Our highways traffic and toll management solution is an expression of L&T’s commitment to developing Indian infrastructure on par with the best in the world. It comprehensively addresses safety aspects, informs, alerts and facilitates drivers about conditions & discipline and seeks to make road travel comfortable, pleasant and predictable,” says S C Bhargava, Senior Vice President & Head of L&T’s Electrical & Automation business.

Whether the congestion on the highways is demand-based or incident-based, C&A’s iVisionmax – TraffiX™ is designed to provide a comprehensive and user friendly solution to ensure safe and secure travel on the state and national highways. iVisionmax – TraffiX™, “based on a robust and industrial grade SCADA platform”, facilitates the control and operation of traffic management systems like Automatic Traffic Counter cum Classifier (ATCC), Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), Emergency Communication System (ECS), Meteorological Stations (METs), Network Management System (NMS), Variable Message Signs (VMS), etc. from a centralised Traffic Control Centre. It is designed to satisfy “Complete Integration”.