Yamuna Expressway- Concrete corridor with integrated ITS Systems

Backed By ITS

The Expressway has been built to international standards, and is equipped with state-of-the-art ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) comprising Best-In-Class RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System for all existing 32 lanes at each Toll Plaza; State-of-the-art Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS); Corridor Control Management and Central Control Centre (CCC) to ensure safe and secure movement of passenger and freight traffic.

Explained Juneja, “Efkon India, which had provided the toll system to Jaypee’s Zirakpur Parwanoo Highway – an NHAI project of around 27-28kms in the States of Punjab, Haryana & Himachal Pradesh, was chosen again by JAL to integrate toll collection and other ITS Sub-Systems. We did complete research for HTMS (Highway Traffic Management Systems) after visiting a few European countries and after that we invited tenders from various organisations. Since a lot of things were to be integrated with toll, (for example, speed enforcement needed to be controlled from toll plaza), we gave this part of the work also to Efkon. Today, all our electronic toll collection systems as well as HTMS are totally integrated for operational efficiency”. HTMS includes Surveillance Cameras (after every 5kms on an average), Video Incident Detection System (VIDS); Speed Monitoring and Vehicle Recognition System, Variable Message Signs (VMS); Meteorological System; Emergency Call Boxes (at every 2kms on either side of the Expressway); 12mts wide Variable Message Sign Boards for display of information and warnings on weather, speed restrictions, traffic load, diversion, etc.; and finally Speed Monitoring and Recognition System to ensure safe and disciplined driving.

Said Reshma Desai, Director, Efkon India, “The ITS Systems installed at Yamuna Expressway Project are a paradigm upward shift in ITS deployment and Toll roads in India. These systems will act as role models for the future of the ITS industry. Team Efkon is happy to be a pioneer behind this.”

The entire Expressway has been put on a fibre-optic backbone for fast and secure transmission of information. This backbone laid in the 6m wide median of the Expressway helps YEP create a network on which all the systems are converged with the sub-control centres and central control centre.

All the major intersections of the Expressway have been equipped with Bosch CCTV cameras for continuous monitoring of key sections. The cameras are designed for day-night vision and backed with solar power for 100% reliability.

To add to the CCTVs, the Expressway has first of its kind ‘Video Incident Detection Systems’ (Traficon) at critical junctions to give instant alarms to the Road Management team in case of accidents, traffic violations or even vehicular break-downs at these locations. The Expressway is covered by a dedicated radio network which will help secure reliable communication between different service agencies forming part of the ‘Operations & Management’ team.

To add to this, the Expressway has a network of ‘Emergency Call Boxes’ which have been placed at every 2kms as per international norms to provide the road user an emergency communication channel to seek help in case of an emergency. These call boxes will have hands-free operations and will be able to connect the user instantly with the control centre to seek assistance. The call box network will ride on a private network and will not have any dependency on any 3rd party agency for reliability. Such a call not only gives the exact location of the person making the call but also generates an instant alarm for the operations team to respond.

Variable Message Sign (VMS) boards (Ortana, Turkey) have been placed at periodic intervals. This is the first time in India that an Expressway has used 12mts wide sign boards which can display all kinds of messages and pictures to assist the road user with useful information or warning signs.

A high-quality Expressway of this kind many a time creates a temptation for the road user to over speed. Over-speeding is the biggest cause of accidents on highways and the authorities of the Yamuna Expressway are very concerned about this fact. To dither road users from over-speeding, the entire Expressway has been put under speed monitoring and vehicle recognition system (ARH, Germany). The system not only measures spot speed of vehicles and captures their number plates, but also measures the average speed of the vehicle over sections of the road.

The weather conditions on the entire Expressway are being monitored at several locations to pre-warn the users of extreme weather conditions which might affect the driving conditions like fog/poor visibility, heavy showers and wind velocity.

Convergence of all the hi-tech ITS systems happens at the Yamuna Expressway Central Control Centre or YECC. The YECC is designed on international standards with video monitoring communication and emergency response systems. YECC also houses a call centre to take user calls for all kind of Expressway information. The entire road with key assets and monitoring teams are plotted on a “Dynamic Road map” that is seen on the massive Video wall supplied and integrated by Delta India Electronics Pvt Ltd. The Video wall is continuously monitored for alarms, incidents and events.