According to the details of the Metro system prepared by the UT urban planning department, special care will be taken to ensure there is no deviation from set architectural controls at the entry to the city so that the overhead system and Metro stations do not turn into eyesores. Sketches made by the UT show how the Metro corridors will appear.”The size and design of columns, structures, escalators and the station are being thoroughly examined,” said an official. Most of the east west corridor will move in a straight line along Madhya Marg before curving around the Botanical Garden to reach Mullanpur. The north-south corridor will also reach Sector 22 in a straight line and lean towards the left to run across Sector 17 before turning straight again.A total of 50 metro stations separated by a distance of one kilometre will be constructed. To begin with, the metro will have a frequency of 10 minutes, which will be reduced to 3 minutes later. The Bus Rapid Transit System and the Commuter Rail System, which have been integrated with the metro rail, will cover 190.5 km and 190 km respectively. The Bus Rapid Transit System provides buses to ferry passengers to the nearest metro station.

 

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PUNE: New buses that will be introduced on city roads will be safer, more comfortable for both passengers and drivers, and will be equipped with in-built ITS technology, if the municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad act on the recommendations of the union ministry of urban development. The ministry has recommended these features to 61 municipal corporations that come under JNNURM.

PMPML, the city public bus transport company has already procured 650 buses under JNNURM funding. However, officials say it plans to make a fresh proposal to procure additional buses that would conform with the new specifications.

Officials of the Pune-based Central Institute of Road Transport(CIRT), which was one of the institutions that made suggestions on urban bus specifications, said they took into account requirements of urban commuters while making them. Specifications have also been listed for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) buses.

According to the report on urban bus specifications, buses plying within the city should also be made more attractive so as to encourage more people to use them. They should also be made accessible to people with physical, sensory and cognitive impairments, it states.

Prashant Kakade, coordinator of the management development centre and a specialist in traffic engineering solutions at CIRT says urban public transport is different from state transport and that make these urban bus specifications significant. In cities, a large number of people, including senior citizens, children, women and even those with physical impairments use public transport. “All these factors have been taken into account while drafting the specifications. For example, the width of the gangway is wider in urban bus specifications because the number of standing passengers is quite high,” he said. Another factor taken into consideration is the insistence on low floor buses to help senior citizens board the bus. For BRTS buses, level boarding facilities have been recommended.

The report lists specifications for various types of buses based on the city’s requirements. Besides specifications for standard size normal and BRTS buses, mini and midi buses, there are specifications for standard size premium segment, and intelligent transport systems. Kakade said that the specifications are compulsory for JNNURM buses, as there will be a third party inspection when the buses are delivered to the cities by suppliers. The third party inspection will be done by institutions such as CIRT and Automotive Research Association of India, he said.

The cost of travel in these buses would be more than in normal buses, but their performance would be better in terms of fuel efficiency and would be safer, more comfortable for passengers and drivers. Buses will be able to move at improved speed, while noise levels in the buses will be less, Kakade said. Instead of using metal which adds to the dead weight of the buses and affects speed, the buses would be made of fibre, he added.

Incidentally, PMPML has planned to install intelligent transport system requirements in the 650 BRTS buses it has already procured under JNNURM. The undertaking has recently called for offers from private contractors for installation of the ITS requirements. For BRTS operations, the buses have level boarding facility, officials said.

The high powered expert committee on urban infrastructure and the ministry of urban development has estimated that cities in India need about 1.5 lakh buses that would cost approximately Rs 60,000 crores in the next 20 years. The report further cites that only 20 of 85 cities with over 5 lakh population (in 2009) offered an organised city bus service. The recommendations of the working group on urban transport for 12th five year plan includes introduction of organized public transport in all two lakh plus population cities and state capitals, as one of its goals. The report asserts that city bus services have been the major mode of public transport, and this will continue.

 

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Now, jump a traffic signal to be caught red handed. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has developed a new device — Intelligent Red Light Violation Identification System (iRIDS), which can capture red light violation automatically. The device is being installed at Keltron junction on a trial basis.

The iRIDS will bring foolproof evidences of red light violations, a solution for the crisis faced by traffic law enforcement agencies. Violations are captured with the help of vehicle sensor, cameras and the controller hardware installed at the junction. Unlike the other red light violation devices, iRIDS will provide vehicle and traffic signal in a single image. Not only the stills, the iRIDS also gives video footage of violations. A three-second video and three progressive snapshots recorded by iRIDS will be enough to catch red light jumpers. At present, the cameras operational in the city will only capture the image of the vehicle with its number plate in focus and the memo sent to the offender will explain that it was shot while he was driving past the signal.

Currently positioned at one arm of the traffic signal at Keltron, C-DAC has plans to shift the trial run to a four-arm junction. C-DAC is planning to approach Kerala Road Fund Board to install iRIDS at Vellayambalam Junction on trial basis. Currently, the junction has country’s first vehicle-actuated Wireless Traffic Control System (Wi-Trac), also developed by C-DAC.

C-DAC joint director G Satheesh said the speciality of iRIDS is that it will provide evidence of violations in a way common man could understand. “It also helps enforcement agencies in giving proof that could not be challenged in court,” he said.

The device was welcomed by transport department officials. Joint transport commissioner (enforcement) C M Said Mohammed said that they have no problem in upgrading to the system if it is found better than the present system. “We already have a system to check the red light jumping offence. We are ready to upgrade to the new system, provided C-DAC approaches us through the proper channel,” he said.

Currently, red light violation tracking systems provide separate image of traffic signal and vehicle. In iRIDS, the sensor, camera and controller work in a loop configuration. The sensor will detect vehicle presence from loops and trigger camera, which capture image of violated vehicles. It also capture image of the number plate. Using RTO database connectivity, the iRIDS could issue ticket with vehicle owners name and address. The device will work even in low light.

iRIDS was developed by C-DAC under ‘Intelligent Transportation System Endeavour (InTranSe) for Indian Cities’, a national-level collaborative research and development programme, funded by Union ministry of communication and information technology.

AHMEDABAD: After facing the wrath of pedestrians and car owners during peak hours along the BRTS corridor, theAhmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL) has stepped up to install intelligent traffic management systems across all major BRTS junctions.

The traffic management system will first gauge the traffic density in each of the lanes and then give way to lanes that have the maximum vehicle density. The traffic management system will also monitor vehicle density across various arterial routes to ensure steady flow of traffic. The present traffic junctions along the BRTS corridor are either manned or are controlled with traffic lights that have timers installed in them.

The present intelligent system will operate lights as per vehicle density. Along with this system, the Japanese government funded traffic information system is also being installed. The Japanese project is worth Rs 11 crore and will see installation of information boards that will suggest vehicle owners route diversions at the junction, via large LED display boards and also on their smart phones, in case there is traffic ahead on a particular route.

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