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IRF Geneva chairman invites you to attend the World Road Meeting - 14–17 November 2017 , Delhi, India. in view of the growing demand for road infrastructure andmobility, and the increasing importance of India as a market for road infrastructure and services, India is a befitting venue for this mega event. The theme of the 18th WRM is “Safe Roads and Smart Mobility: The Engines of Economic Growth.” WRM 2017 will bring together representatives of business, industry, governments, public sector organisat

The latest figures from the UK’s Construction Equipment Association (CEA) show that exports of machines continued to show modest growth in Q2 2016. This continued to reverse the declining trend seen in 2015, which reflected poor demand in many major overseas markets according to the CEA. Measured in volume terms (tonnes), exports showed 6.1% growth in Apr/Jun compared with Jan/Mar 2016. However, compared with the same quarter in 2015, Apr/Jun was still 10.3% below last year’s level. For the first half year,

A consortium of investors led by Goldman Sachs has agreed to invest US$220 million in Essel Highways, part of the Essel Group. This is the US private investment firm’s first foray into India’s road infrastructure market, according to India’s financial media reports. Essel Highways, a subsidiary of Essel Infraprojects, constructs, develops and operates national and state highways. Essel Highways, set up in 2007, boasts road assets valued at around $2 billion. It has a road development portfolio of 1

The German construction equipment manufacturing association reports wide variations in business activity across different markets. Overall, the VDMA reports that for construction equipment, the 2016 growth forecast remains at over 3%. According to the VDMA, German construction equipment manufacturers remain cautiously optimistic at the middle of the year. “After a great bauma trade fair in April we are again in the midst of our daily business – which holds a number of challenges and uncertainties,” said

JCB reports strong financial performance despite the current tough trading conditions in most of the developing markets around the world. The firm says it has achieved underlying earnings of £214 million during 2015 despite the difficult market conditions and slower than expected growth in North American and European markets. According to JCB’s analysis, the global market for construction equipment dropped by 14% during 2015 overall. Market conditions in the first half of 2016 remain fragile with the except

India is busy with plans to expand its highway network. The work is being managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and up to 97 different highway projects are envisaged in the complete programme. Some US$16 billion worth of projects could be awarded in the 2016-2017 period if all the planned projects move ahead as anticipated. These would deliver an additional 6,631km of highways in total. At present there are 250 highway construction projects underway in India, while 400 have already been

Strong signs of growth in the Indian economy are being seen. There is a very positive outlook for the upcoming bauma Conexpo India exhibition of construction equipment. This show is being held for the fourth time from December 12th to 15th, 2016 at the HUDA grounds in Gurgaon/Delhi. Igor Palka, CEO of bC Expo India, which organises the event said, “We have registrations from big names like ACE, Ajax Fiori, Ammann Apollo, ASTEC, BAUER, BKT, Columbia Machines, Haulotte, Herrenknecht, Hyundai, Kobelco, KYB

A new publication compiling research on road safety in India has now been compiled. This has been produced by an expert in the field, NS Srinivasan. The book is called, “Planning for the future – Solutions for India’s traffic problems” This publication contains 30 articles published during the past few years on the topic. This book is incorporated in the website and is available for the benefit of technical community. Other books included in the website are: “Taking the high road – Research on transport

A major rebuilding project is now planned for a key link in India. The work will be carried out on the Mahatma Gandhi Setu Bridge, which spans the famous River Ganges. Measuring nearly 5.6km, this is the longest river crossing in India and had its official inauguration in 1982. The bridge links Patna in the south to Hajipur in the north of Bihar and features a 7.5m wide deck while lying on 45 supports in all. The repair work is expected to cost close to US$260 million and was approved by India’s Cabinet

An Indian quarry facility has seen increased uptime and gains in overall efficiency due to the installation of new wear components in its crushing system Installing new distributor plates in this Indian granite quarry has increased its plate operational lifetime by 400-500%. Panchami Stone has fitted the unique HX900 plates to the 85 HP rotor of its Sandvik Construction CV218 VSI, reducing its replacement costs by 50%. The Panchami Stone granite quarry is located 60km from Bangalore, in the south of I

India is the new focus for the world construction industry market. In 2015 there was a change in perspective in Asia, with demand for machines in China dropping in terms of construction growth. India posted growth of 5.3% during 2015, while China achieved growth of 4%. This change at the top has been confirmed by the SaMoTer-Verona Outlook. This is a construction sector observatory group set up in partnership with Prometeia, the international economic consulting and research firm, with the support of Una

India is working on a master plan that will boost transport across the country. This calls for the construction of a grid pattern of highways, with the concept strongly influenced by the US interstate system. The four-lane, national highway corridors plan has been developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). This envisages a total of 27 highways set out on a grid pattern and with a total length of 36,600km, with north-south and east-west routes spaced some 250km apart. The plan calls for

Official statistics from India paint a poor picture for road safety, with road deaths increasing. During 2015 there were around 146,000 reported deaths from road crashes in the country, an average of 400/day and an increase of 5% from the previous year. Road crashes increased by 2.5% to around 501,000 in 2015. The actual casualty figure for India may be significantly higher however as many road deaths go unreported. Capital Delhi saw 1,622 road deaths during 2015 the greatest number for any city, althoug

In a bid to cut India’s high rate of road crashes, the country is working on much tougher penalties for offenders. Drivers that are underage or hold fake licences will face much heavier fines, as well as jail sentences of up to three years and one year respectively. Meanwhile tougher penalties will also be applied to vehicle repairers fitting fake parts, as well as for producers and suppliers of fake parts. Car manufacturers are also being targeted, with fines being imposed for vehicles featuring poor safet

The World Health Organisation has published a new report on road safety during 2015. Its global status report uses information from 180 countries and indicates that the total number of road traffic deaths has plateaued at 1.25 million/year worldwide. The annual global road fatality rate has remained roughly the same since 2007, a point worth noting considering growing vehicle numbers around the globe. Low income countries remain those of most concern for this report as in previous years. But some progress i

In India an elephant in distress caused damage to numerous vehicles in the town of Siliguri in East Bengal. The animal entered the town from the nearby Baikunthapur forest and became alarmed by the throng of human activity around it. As it barged its way through the town leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, locals watched in horror from a safe distance. Experts were brought in to fire tranquiliser darts at the elephant, which was then transported to more suitable surroundings to recover from its orde

Supporting the Development of the Road Sector in South East Asia. Countries in South East Asia are already undertaking, or planning to undertake the construction, expansion, and upgrading of national road network as part of their economic development programmes. Groundbreaking projects such as the highway between India and Thailand, and the Asian Highway Network Development that are also at an advanced stage of planning. Given this, it was not surprising that there was considerable interest in attending “Th

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is suggesting that new highways could also be designed as backup runways for its air defence fleet. The first highway to be constructed so that it could also be used as a runway is likely to be the 302km Lucknow-Agra Expressway. This route will be operational by the end of 2016. The IAF has been working on plans to build emergency runways and has been developing solutions for mobile logistics support. It has also been researching suitable road sections and the minimum infrastr

From expanding bitumen operations in India to groundbreaking mixes in Italy, stronger roads in South Africa to high RAP content in Germany, this month we bring you stories of advancing technology from around the world - Kristina Smith reports Technology from Austrian engineering company Pörner will soon be responsible for almost two-thirds of India’s bitumen production. In December last year Pörner signed the deal with HPCL-Mittal Energy, a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Mittal Energy

Metalite Hitex Group is offering two new road safety surfacing and repair products designed specifically to meet the needs of India’s highway infrastructure network. This is the first product launch from the company which is a recently announced joint venture between Hitex International Group and Delhi-based Trans Metalite India. The firm says that the innovative road surfacing and repair products are made in India at Hitex’s new manufacturing plant at Bawal in Haryana. They have been developed using a