SIEMENS

Ever had the feeling that the traffic lights are teaming up against you? That they’re always red when they actually should be green? That they interrupt the flow of traffic rather than letting it flow unimpeded? Drivers in the central Chinese city of Wuhan know that feeling too — and they know that it’s deceptive. Even though the traffic in this city of 9.7 million people on the Yangtze River does fray nerves at peak times, it moves better than it did just a few years ago — thanks to traffic lights that know at any given moment which signal is best.

In Wuhan, about 500 intersections are equipped with Siemens traffic controllers that monitor road traffic. Real-time traffic data is sent to centers where a central traffic management system calculates an optimized regional control plan in order to minimize congestion and make traffic flow more smoothly. In May 2007, the municipal government of Wuhan tried a new approach to managing its traffic problems by hiring a Siemens consortium to install an urban traffic control system. Up to that point, China’s traffic planners had relied primarily on physical infrastructure — wider roads, more buses, and longer subway lines. But to realize its potential, this hardware has to be used intelligently. “We selected Siemens because the company is the world’s leading supplier of intelligent traffic solutions,” says Chen Hui of Wuhan’s Traffic Management Bureau. The Siemens system has been in service since 2009. Since then, “the traffic situation has greatly improved,” says Chen.

Traffic light signaling is only the most visible part of the system. Within the framework of a long-term collaboration, Siemens and its partners are implementing “Complete and Green Mobility” in Wuhan — a concept designed to achieve optimized coordination among transport systems in order to move passengers and goods in fast, safe, efficient, and environmentally-friendly ways. Last year, Siemens, which advises Wuhan on its infrastructure, won an order to provide propulsion systems for two metro lines.

The Wuhan project was co-financed by the World Bank, whose development experts see the approach as a blueprint for managing one of the biggest challenges facing Chinese cities. Never before in history have so many people surged into urban centers so quickly. There are now more than 160 cities in China with more than a million residents each. Although China had traditionally been a largely agricultural country whose residents lived mostly in villages, the balance shifted in 2011, when, for the first time, more than half the population lived in cities. Demographers forecast that by 2015, the number of China’s city-dwellers will probably grow from 657 million today to 700 million. And by 2030, there will likely be a billion urban residents.

Getting there Faster on an Electric Bike. Many major Chinese cities face the specter of total gridlock. Already, Chinese people are spending many hours in traffic every day — losing productive hours from work and from their families. And because of traffic jams, at rush hours, the average speed of traffic in Beijing’s city center is only slightly over ten kilometers per hour. Since cars often spill over into bus lanes, public transit doesn’t move any faster. Many Chinese are therefore discovering that they can get to their destination more quickly on bicycles or electric bikes, of which more than 20 million are sold every year in China. However, few Chinese are willing to ride bikes over longer distances. After all, more traffic means that an accident is more likely. In addition, smog in many large Chinese cities has become a matter of concern.

Transportation systems should not only effectively carry large numbers of people, but also be inexpensive. One special challenge is how to finance developments in infrastructure that will help determine which major Chinese cities are livable in the future — particularly since quality of life is a basic prerequisite for attracting qualified workers and encouraging tomorrow’s companies to put down roots.Others have moved quickly to emulate Wuhan’s far-sightedness. Several other Chinese cities, including Nanjing and Xi’an, have now also formed “Complete and Green Mobility” partnerships with Siemens.

In late 2009, the municipal government of Nanjing, a city of eight million that is currently preparing for the Youth Olympic Games in 2014, signed an “Integrated and Green Transportation System” cooperation agreement. As part of this agreement, Siemens will support the city’s efforts to make its various transportation systems work together more effectively. Here again, an intelligent traffic management system will improve the functionality of the transit network and benefit the environment at the same time. According to the agreement, Siemens will not just supply technology but will also help the city train its traffic experts.

In order to ease traffic, the Nanjing municipal government has vigorously developed its mass transit network. So far, all of its metro lines have been equipped with Siemens’ signaling systems. In 2010, Siemens equipped subway line 2 with Trainguard MT, an automated control system. The system allows 35 trains and a control center to exchange information in real time. As a result, the intervals between trains are shorter and the frequency of the trains can be adapted flexibly in line with passenger volumes. The system’s operators describe it as “very stable and reliable.” Line 2, which is 38 kilometers long, carries around 500,000 passengers every day, which takes a great deal of strain off the city’s streets.

Similar plans have been made by the municipal government in Xi’an, which entered into a partnership with Siemens in June 2010. In June 2011, Siemens produced the “Xi’an Green Mobility Integrated Solutions” consultative paper as part of the city’s efforts to improve traffic efficiency. In addition to supporting local planners with its know-how — for example, in relation to the signaling system for Xi’an’s metro line 1 — Siemens is also running a signal technology joint venture called Siemens Signalling Co., Ltd. in Xi’an. The products and components assembled there are being used in many cities in China.

Charging Stations for Electric Cars. Complete and Green Mobility is not limited to the optimization of existing transportation systems. It also applies to the development of new ones. The People’s Republic hopes that electric cars in particular will help it become much more environmentally friendly and reduce energy consumption.

Today, in China, only one person in 20 owns a car, whereas in Germany the equivalent figure is one in two. World Bank experts therefore believe that China could become the first country to use electric cars on a large scale. According to government plans, up to one million hybrid and electric vehicles could be on China’s roads by 2015.

That’s ambitious but not unrealistic. One key challenge in this regard is building a charging station infrastructure. Here too Siemens is a pioneer. In December 2011, the company received a contract to install 140 charging stations in Shanghai. These can be used to recharge both electric compacts and buses. “That’s a milestone for Siemens’ business development in China’s e-vehicle infrastructure market,” says Dr. Xiao Song, who is responsible for the Infrastructure & Cities Sector, Siemens North East Asia/ASEAN-Pacific. “Our comprehensive portfolio for urban infrastructure is helping China make its cities more sustainable, competitive, and livable.”