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| Siemens Sustains Mobility in Conurbations and on Trunk Roads  Traffic solutions for the future integrate the safety needs of transport users and the need for environmental protection. One example of these solutions for the future is the "Ruhrpilot" traffic management system, which Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) developed in cooperation with various partners and which went live at the end of May. In the Ruhr region, Germany's biggest conurbation, some 1.1 million people going to work travel every morning from one urban centre to another. In addition, five million commuters travel into the region from the environs.The Ruhrpilot system constantly picks up electronic data on the traffic situation on motorways, federal highways, state highways and primary municipal roads and from 200 sensing points in urban centres such as Bochum, Dortmund, Essen and Gelsenkirchen. This traffic situation data is then analysed and integrated with data on other modes of transport, such as the railways and urban mass transit systems, reported from 11 towns, 4 boroughs and 13 transport operators, and thus provides the region with access to up-to-date traffic information and traffic forecasts. Transport users can select a route which is optimal for their needs and decide how they wish to reach their destination - faster and safer than previously. This up-to-date information is already available on the internet and in future will also be disseminated by radio, newspapers, teletext, mobile telephones and motorway information displays. Back in the 1950s, people in Germany travelled 2,000 to 2,500 kilometres per year travelling to and from work and to do the shopping. Today, they travel more than 12,000 kilometres by road. And whereas in 1950, West and East Germany together had only around one million passenger cars, the figure today stands at over 40 million. This rise has meant growing problems in terms of road safety, higher energy consumption and the corresponding increased strain on the environment. According to estimates underlying the Federal Transportation Routes Planning Scheme, freight traffic in Germany will increase by 60 per cent and passenger traffic by 20 per cent within the next few years. Implementation of the so-called particles directive which took effect on 1 January 2005 has shown that many locations are exceeding the permissible number of times that the limit value of 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air can be overstepped. Various measuring stations in Germany alone have reported that the limit values had already been exceeded more than 35 times even within the first quarter of 2006. After the introduction, in 2003, of the congestion charge scheme in London, since when travelling into the 20 square kilometre controlled zone between Tower Bridge and Hyde Park has cost the eight British Pounds, the particle count within that zone fell by 15 per cent. The European road network is beset daily by traffic jams reaching a total length of 7,500 kilometres. The UITP (International Association of Public Transport) puts the cost of traffic jams in Europe at 120 billion euro per year, a figure equal to one per cent of the gross domestic product of the EU-15 countries. "The only concept which can be successful in the long term is therefore traffic management based on cooperation and driven by telematics, " stressed Dr. Thomas Stetter, in charge of global solutions in road transportation technology at Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |