Toll Collection System
Germany’s geographic position at the heart of Europe has made it one of the main hubs of international heavy goods traffic.
telent ensure that maintenance of network assets is carried out rapidly round-the-clock, 365 days a year
Thousands of heavy trucks from throughout Europe pass through the country, particularly on motorways. This steadily growing goods transport places considerable strain on roads and requires investment in maintenance and expansion. In order to ensure that the burden of cost is borne equitably by road users in relation to the distance driven, some years ago the German government introduced a distance-based toll for all German and non-German trucks of 12 tonnes gross vehicle weight and above.
About the Toll Collect system
In the scope of a public-private partnership on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin-based Toll Collect GmbH successfully developed, established and operates the world’s first toll system that combines the technology of satellite positioning with mobile communication technology in a single system. In contrast to vignette solutions, the toll charges are raised in relation to the distance travelled on the toll route, the number of axles on the vehicle and the vehicle’s emissions category. Users only pay for the actual distance travelled on toll routes – a fair and equitable system.
Unlike conventional toll systems, Toll Collect is ‘free-flow’ - capable of charging the toll without disrupting traffic, or causing delays: the innovative technology used means vehicles do not need to slow down, change lanes or stop. Toll Collect offers truck drivers two methods of payment: post-payment via a GPS-based On Board Unit which is installed within the truck or, for less frequent travellers, advanced booking via one of 3,600 toll station terminals.
Toll enforcement is performed by the help of 300 control gantries and 280 control vehicles equipped by Toll Collect and operated by the Federal Republic of Germany.
Toll Collect also meets technical requirements to support future interoperability with other toll systems elsewhere in Europe.
Toll Collect’s requirement
Toll Collect GmbH operates one of the most comprehensive toll collection systems in existence worldwide, handling all aspects of truck toll accounting, as well as providing equipment.
Operating this sophisticated GPS-based toll collection system across one of Europe’s busiest motorway networks involves thousands of networked assets, and thus an extremely large maintenance environment. Toll Collect GmbH has turned to external partners, such as telent, to maintain and support the numerous toll station terminals, control gantries and control vehicles for which it is responsible.
Our solution
Working closely with Toll Collect’s in-house engineering team, we designed an efficient process for maintaining and supporting the toll operator’s assets. Any problem in the network can result in loss of revenues, so we meet strict service level agreements to ensure that maintenance is carried out rapidly round-the-clock, 365 days a year. We are directly responsible for field activities that rely on telent’s control centre (SCC - Services Competence Centre) located in Backnang, near Stuttgart.
Result
Since 2005, our bespoke solution has allowed Toll Collect GmbH to effectively maintain approximately 3,600 toll station terminals throughout Germany. In addition, the network’s threehundred control gantries, lane indicators, control vehicles and other equipment are maintained by telent 24/7/365.
