The UK division of one of the world’s leaders in traffic control equipment has won an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) contract in China. Siemens Traffic Solutions will provide the traffic signal control system for Suzhou Industrial Park’s Administrative Committee (SIPAC) ITS Phase II Project. Located in Jiangsu Province, and covering an area of 111 square miles (288 sq km), the Industrial Park (pictured above) has a population of approximately 1.2m. Under the contract, the company will supply 110 of its ST950 traffic controllers that are designed and manufactured by Siemens in the UK, together with a UTC/SCOOT (Urban Traffic Control / Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique) traffic management system. Installation supervision, commissioning and integration services will also be provided by the company. Launched in 2013, the sixth generation ST950 controller (below) builds on the success of its predecessors, and introduces several new features and new levels of accessibility and safety, including an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), advanced IP communications, easy to follow internet-style user interfaces and greater flexibility.
The new Chinese deployment will provide the region with real-time monitoring and networked control at junctions, and optimized traffic signal parameters will be applied to ensure complicated traffic situations are handled with greater reliability. By shifting the traffic control mode from traditional stand-alone mode to real-time area-adaptive control, the project will provide optimized operation of the traffic system in the Industrial Park. SIPAC and Siemens also intend to consider other opportunities for further cooperation, including system adaptation, customized application development and real-time information integration. According to Andy Gill, sales and business manager at Siemens, “The deployment of our new equipment is expected to reduce traffic delays, accidents and congestion, as well as improving the traffic safety and efficiency of the network. The SIPAC ITS project will become another successful milestone for our ITS applications in China.”
