Seven More Organisation Recommend Transportation Plan

Transportation plan

The Northern Virginia organisation of Realtors and the Residence & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington have endorsed Gov. Bob McDonnell’s plan for funding more than $4 billion in road, rail and some other transportation projects across the state.

The groups were among seven business and transportation associations that announced their support for the plan previous week. The other association were the Virginia Auto Dealers Association, AAA Mid-Atlantic, Virginia Association of Roofing Professionals, Retail Alliance and Virginia Business Council.

Earlier, 36 organizations had recommended McDonnell’s plan.

The Republican governor’s proposal would need the state to borrow money to fund the transportation projects. Critics, notably Democrats, say they oppose the plan in part because they don’t like Virginia to go into debt.

Mary Beth Coya, senior vice president for public and government respond for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, said the group has been an advocate for more funding for transportation and that this is an initial step.

“Our members, the home buyers and the selling public that we serve spend too many valuable hours stuck in traffic. This is the time that could be spent with our families or being more profitable in our jobs,” Coya said.

The governor said his proposal would help Northern Virginia and other regions by fast up road construction, providing employment, easing congestion and boosting economic growth.

The proposal includes an employee tax credit for telecommuting and a tax incentive for companies that use water and rail, instead of trucks, to ship cargo.

McDonnell’s transportation plan would fund nearly 900 projects statewide. The plan would be funded by about $3 billion in bonds. Also, a 0.25% sales tax in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads would be used for projects in that areas.

Democrats fear that diverting sales tax revenues to transportation will take money away from education and public safety. House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong (D-10th District) also said the governor’s bond proposal would “run up impressive amounts of debt.”

However, Coya said low interest rates make this a favorable time to sell bonds.

“We expect to see proposals in the future for new funding sources that will address the magnitude of our transportation problem without harming the resources we need for education and other key government services,” Coya said.

'Talking' cars may alert of accidents and save lives

A new crash warning system that allows vehicles to "talk" to each other more than 900 feet away was determines for federal officials, marking a significant step in ability by the government to put advanced transmission technology in cars. 

Using WiFi signals that are transmit 10 times every second, the technology senses when a collision is imminent and alerts a driver through flashing red lights and beeps. 

 

In the demonstration in the parking lot near RFK Stadium, the driver notified by a system when it detected another car speeding through a red light in an upcoming intersection, of several cars blocking the highway ahead, and of a car zooming up from behind. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is send a report in October that such "vehicle-to-vehicle" warning systems could address nearly 80 percent of reported accidents that do not include drunk drivers. 

This technology is called as Peter Appel.It has the potential to save a lot of lives,administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the Department of Transportation, after riding along for the demo.The technology, if successfully developed, could become mandatory in 2013 when federal officials are scheduled to decide whether to require such systems.

In the absence of such a specification, the first challenge may be overcoming a basic chicken-and-egg problem. If other person don't buy the systems, they will be nearly useless. In that case, persuading the first consumers to purchase the technology may be difficult. 

Implementation of the system would require the nation's automakers, to agree on how such systems should work and what kind of information they should share. 

Ford, which conducted Tuesday's demonstration for federal officials and the media, is expected to announce during this week's Washington Auto Show that it will invest more in the technology. The Department of Transportation has already spent more than $40 million on this technology, with an additional $36 million slated for more research.The government research and automakers is supposed to be finished within two years. 

The warning systems, however, face technical challenges.The WiFi signals between two cars are sent via a channel shared by the Federal Communications Commission. Engineers are trying to cope with "channel loading" when there are more than 100 cars within the 300-meter radius. 

There is some fear that hackers could fool the systems into thinking that others car are in the area - setting off alarms and snarling traffic. The automakers must ensure that the signals vehicles are receiving are actually from other cars. Setting up electronic certifications also has to be done in a way that addresses the concerns of privacy advocates and does not identify individual drivers. 

"We don't want people to feel there is some tracking device on the car," said Michael Shulman, a technical leader for the project at Ford. "But we have to make sure the other car you're sensing is not some guy on an overpass with a laptop. So there are obstacles, but we think we have ways of overcoming them." 

Some cars already have limited radar devices that can detect obstacles in the front, as well as those in the blind spots missed by mirrors. Such systems can cost $1,000. 

The advantage of the WiFi technology is not only that it is far cheaper - possibly adding as little as $100 to the cost of the car,but also that it can identify other vehicles much farther away and in all directions.The system's low price tag would allow manufacturers to put it in both luxury and economy models.

Goods transport revenue increase by 33.5% in pune

Goods Transport

PUNE: The Pune railway department has registered a significant increase of at least 33.5% in its goods transport revenue. As per the current statistics, the goods transport has fetched the division Rs 135.45 crores in the first nine months (till December 2010); this is significantly high compared to last year. The main reason for this growth in revenue is, increased transport of sugar, auto parts and fuel from Pune.

According to sources, "Earnings from goods transport have been increasing over the last few years, by at least 10% annually. Most of this is thanks to the increasing number of industrial units around Pune. Western Maharashtra being the hub of sugar production, the division has registered a significant rise in sugar transport this year.All industrial units prefers the rail transport as it is faster and safer compared to other way of modes."

An official with the Pune division said division is expanding its existing capacity, hence the goods transport can further increase in the coming years.

A proposal has been put forward for separate tracks with advanced facilities for loading and unloading goods at the Saswad goods shed. According to the officials, a time of slot of 9 am to 3 pm is allotted for  goods transport.

The statistics also suggest that the Pune division's passenger earnings have gone up to Rs 296.19 crore, an increase of around 17% compared to the last year. The division, till December 10, has registered a passenger count of 5.60 crore, around 7% more than last year. The total revenue of division has reached up to Rs 457.24 crore.

The Pune division takes action against ticketless passengers across all its station. Till December, around 1.23 such cases were registered, earning the division Rs 4.79 crore. According to Pune division's public relation officer, "Around 88 holiday special trains and 73 special trains ran from Pune in the last 9 months".