CENTRE for TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH

The Centre for Transportation Research has been developed with the aim of making productive contributions to the continued progress of the transportation industry in Singapore by conducting applied research and development work in contemporary and future transportation issues. The pool of expertise in the Centre comprises specialist research staff drawn from the Department of Civil Engineering and the Industrial and Systems Engineering, both of the Faculty of Engineering, as well as the Department of Decision Sciences of the Faculty of Business Administration.

OBJECTIVES

The Centre is committed to encourage and promote collaborative work between practitioners and academics in various facets of transportation research relevant to the needs of Singapore.

The broad objectives are to:

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

The research and development emphases of the Centre will be placed on six major areas. The long term research goals for each are as follows:

Traffic Engineering
To develop predictive models for better traffic management, giving emphases to problems of traffic congestion, traffic safety and fuel consumption;

Infrastructure Management
To develop pavement management decision-making models for local application; and to identify new condition survey techniques suitable for the road networks in Singapore;

Transportation Systems and Logistics
To develop analytical models for analysis and design of logistics and transportation systems, with special focus on container terminal operations, warehousing and distribution centre management, and trucking fleet management;

Transportation Energy
To study energy use in the transport industry in Singapore, and to study vehicle usage and fuel efficiency at vehicle operational and national level;
Vehicle Routing and Scheduling
To improve productivity in the transportation industry by developing computer models and software packages, and promoting their use in solving transportation problems;
Highway Materials and Construction
To produce better and more durable pavements by identifying improved thickness and materials designs, and new construction techniques for local climatic conditions.

SHORT COURSES AND SEMINARS

As part of the effort to promote research and development, and to increase the awareness of students and practising engineers of the activities of the Centre, short courses and seminars are organised periodically by the Centre. Course instructors and seminar speakers comprise Centre research staff highlighting their research findings, as well as eminent transportation professionals and experts from Singapore and overseas. The Centre also sponors local and international conferences to encourage the exchange of ideas among researchers, transportation practitioners and engineers.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Financial assistance in the form of research scholarships, research assistantships and industrial sponsorships are available for those who are interested in pursuing post-graduate degrees in transportation-related areas. full-time and part-time research programmes leading to M.Eng or Ph.D degrees are offered. Candidates should possess a good honours degree or equivalent in Engineering.

FACILITIES

Research facilities for research staff of the Centre are available in the Traffic Engineering Laboratory and the Highway Materials Laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering, and the Computing Laboratory of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The laboratories are equipped with traffic data logging devices, and automatic event monitoring devices for the measurement of traffic flow characteristics. Standard laboratory test equipment for pavement materials, as well as research oriented test facilities are available.

In the Computing Laboratory, a broad range of application software packages on operations research, statistics, and project management has been developed for solving problems in transportation engineering.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

The Centre's are currently involved in more than 10 collaborative research projects. Amongst these are studies on freight movement, transportation energy and port operations sponsored by Neptune Orient Lines Ltd; a joint project with Resources Development Corporation Ltd on the performance of bituminous mixtures for road construction; and a project with Trans-Island Bus Services Ltd on fuel consumption characteristics of public buses.

Road accidents and traffic conflict studies have been conducted with input from the Traffic Police Department. Research staff have also colloborated with L&M Agencies and the Public Works Department to study the use of steel slag for constructing skid resistant road surfaces. Operations research techniques have been applied in a research project with Singapore Airlines Ltd to study assignment of flight crew duties. Two studies on berth allocation planning and optimal storage planning in a container terminal port have recently been completed in collaboration with the Port of Singapore Authority.

COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES

The Centre invites and welcomes collaborative research with private organisations, government departments and statutory boards. There are various schemes of collaboration ranging from contract research to partial sponsorship of manpower and equipment. Topics for investigations are usually identified jointly by the sponsors and Centre research staff. Research staff of the Centre have been actively involved in collaborative research with the industry for many years. Among the collaborating parties are the Port of Singapore Authority, Public Works Department, Resources Development Corporation Ltd, Trans-Island Bus Service Ltd, L&M Agenices Ltd and the Singapore Airlines Ltd.

ORGANISATION

Director
Dr. Fwa Tien Fang
Center for Transportation Research
Fax: 7791635
Tel: 7722276