India
Govt gives green light to satellite-based toll system on highways, aims for rollout by April 2025 | India News – Times of India
NEW DELHI: Paving the way for the rollout of satellite-based toll on highwaysthe ministry of road transport has allowed the collection of user fees through Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) on-board units installed in vehicles.
The government has set itself the internal target of bringing the first tranche of 2,000 km of NH network under this new toll system by April 2025 at the latest. Initially, only commercial vehicles will be subject to this regime, as they are equipped with equipment for tracking the vehicle location.
Under this new toll system, only lanes will be marked for processing vehicles equipped with the GNSS OBUs to ensure their non-stop passage. In a notification, the ministry said that if a vehicle enters the special lanes without a valid and functional OBU, they will have to pay double the user fee. A similar measure was taken when the government rolled out a mandatory FASTag system for toll collection.
According to the amended National Highways Fee Rules, vehicles equipped with GNSS will be allowed to travel free of charge on highways and expressways up to 20 km per day on the same stretch of highway. The measure is aimed at facilitating the movement of local population.
Under the plan, NHAI will implement GNSS based toll collection within the existing FASTag Ecosysteminitially using a hybrid model where both RFID based and GNSS based electronic toll collection will operate simultaneously. The government has completed geo-fencing of nearly 1.4 lakh km of the NH network.
To begin with, existing toll plazas will have two or more dedicated ‘GNSS lanes’ where the default position of the barriers will be open for free flow of GNSS vehicles. These lanes will have advanced readers to identify vehicles equipped with GNSS devices and the exact user fee will be deducted from the FASTag wallet.
Meanwhile, Indian and international technology companies including TCS, Infosys, Accenture, RailTel, TCIL, Sky Toll, Kapsch and Movyon have applied to develop a satellite-based toll collection system on the country’s NH network.
The government has set itself the internal target of bringing the first tranche of 2,000 km of NH network under this new toll system by April 2025 at the latest. Initially, only commercial vehicles will be subject to this regime, as they are equipped with equipment for tracking the vehicle location.
Under this new toll system, only lanes will be marked for processing vehicles equipped with the GNSS OBUs to ensure their non-stop passage. In a notification, the ministry said that if a vehicle enters the special lanes without a valid and functional OBU, they will have to pay double the user fee. A similar measure was taken when the government rolled out a mandatory FASTag system for toll collection.
According to the amended National Highways Fee Rules, vehicles equipped with GNSS will be allowed to travel free of charge on highways and expressways up to 20 km per day on the same stretch of highway. The measure is aimed at facilitating the movement of local population.
Under the plan, NHAI will implement GNSS based toll collection within the existing FASTag Ecosysteminitially using a hybrid model where both RFID based and GNSS based electronic toll collection will operate simultaneously. The government has completed geo-fencing of nearly 1.4 lakh km of the NH network.
To begin with, existing toll plazas will have two or more dedicated ‘GNSS lanes’ where the default position of the barriers will be open for free flow of GNSS vehicles. These lanes will have advanced readers to identify vehicles equipped with GNSS devices and the exact user fee will be deducted from the FASTag wallet.
Meanwhile, Indian and international technology companies including TCS, Infosys, Accenture, RailTel, TCIL, Sky Toll, Kapsch and Movyon have applied to develop a satellite-based toll collection system on the country’s NH network.
