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Bavaria Parkgaragen and E.ON AG have teamed up to open the first eight jointly operated charging points for electric cars in Munich. Up to two electric cars can be charged at the same time at each point. "We are subsidising these charging points to give e-mobility a boost in its initial stages," says Claus Schnell, managing director of Bavaria Parkgaragen. “Just one euro is all it costs to charge up an electric car's batteries, and the use of a charging point is included in the car parking fee. Basically an

Tenders are being invited for the modernisation of a 93km stretch of road between two towns in Moldova. Worth €100.87million (US$131million), the Moldovan transport ministry tender for the upgrade of the route between Sarateni and Dochia, in the north of the country, is divided into four lots.

The opening of Crossrail, the new east-west rail line in London, has been set for May 2017. Trains will initially be able to use the north east section of the new line, between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in Essex, Crossrail’s chief executive Andrew Worstenholme told a meeting of the London Assembly transport committee. The western surface section between Paddington and Heathrow should start in 2018, with a trial also beginning in December that year in the central tunnel section linking Paddington and

Electric vehicles will play an important role in the decarbonisation of road transport in the EU, according to the European Commission’s Energy Roadmap 2050. The Roadmap does not to set any concrete recommendations, policy actions or intermediate targets.

Work on the DFW Connector project in Texas is now 50% complete. When it is finished, the DFW Connector project will reduce congestion for drivers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The DFW Connector is the largest investment of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, US$260 million, in a highway project.

Four consortia have been appointed by the DfT to consultancy frameworks for rail and road schemes. A TRL-Halcrow joint venture; Ove Arup & Partners with URS; Aecom and Atkins; and Parsons Brinckerhoff with WSP; may be used by the DfT, Highways Agency or any other Government bodies, over a period of three years with the potential for a one-year extension. Similar plans for general transport and social research are underway, although the tender was suspended in 2011 as it was thought to disadvantage smalle

TomTom has expanded coverage of its portfolio of real time traffic products for licensing customers to include the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, bringing the total count to 23 countries. "This is a strong step forward for TomTom's mission to reduce traffic congestion globally," claims Ralf-Peter Schaefer, head of TomTom traffic product unit. "By expanding our services in Europe, customers are able to access superior traffic information for highways, major roads and secondary roads tha

Atlas Copco plans to acquire the underground equipment business of GIA Industri, which will widen its array of machines for the tunneling market. Swedish firm GIA Industri makes an array of specialist machines for underground use including electric haulage trucks, utility vehicles and ventilation systems.

Symology, a leading UK supplier of street works systems and highway asset management systems, has announced that the UK Government Procurement Service has made the only award on the G Cloud Framework for a street works co-ordination solution to Symology. The Symology Insight Street Works Management for Traffic Managers (Cloud Edition) builds on existing attributes of Symology’'s managed service and delivers the company'’s traditional Street Works Management solution in a way consistent with the demands of c

The official reopening of a bridge badly damaged in the Cumbria floods has taken place. Bouthrey bridge, just off the A5084 between Water Yeat and Nibthwaite in South Lakeland, was severely damaged by the some of the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in England in November 2009. A temporary bridge was constructed as an interim measure and work began on repairing the main bridge.

The last two tenders for Israel’s Road 531 project are now being published by the Israel National Roads Company. The tenders will form part of one of the largest single infrastructure projects ever planned in Israel. These two are for a complex series of works including a three storey interchange, underground crossings for railways and roads and relocation of the coastal line for Israel Railways. Also included in the works are the construction of two large water pumping stations and a series of paths for pe

The Traffic Tech Group has received the Golden Award for Excellence & Quality in the Arab World from the Arab Administrative Development Organisation (ARADO) and has also won the award for Infrastructure Project for Improving Road Safety at last week's 2011 Gulf Traffic Awards.ARADO, an organisation affiliated with the Arab League, held the prestigious awards ceremony on 4 December, co-organised by the Tatweej Academy, and under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,

Auction firm Ritchie Bros has staged the world’s largest ever heavy equipment auction held between February 13 - 18. New records were set by Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers for gross auction proceeds (US$203million), number of lots sold (more than 10,000), total number of registered bidders (8,670), number of sellers (830), online gross auction proceeds (more than $47million) and number of online bidders (4,070). Every item during the six-day event in Orlando, Florida was sold to the highest bidder—regardless

The UQM Technologies’ PowerPhase Select 145 electric propulsion system has been selected by EV Engineering to power its proof-of-concept fleet of Australian-built EV Commodore electric vehicles (EV). The project is converting a fleet of locally manufactured Holden Commodore passenger cars to proof-of-concept fully-electric vehicles by June 2012, to demonstrate the technical viability and attractiveness to customers of a full-size electric car. If successful, technologies used in the project could be conside