Thales to provide high-tech toll collection system for Mexico City–Puebla highway

Thales has won a contract to deploy a high-tech tolling solution at San Martín on the highway linking Mexico City to Puebla, 130 km southeast of the federal capital. The highway is currently being upgraded, and the San Martín toll station will ultimately include 38 lanes equipped by Thales. It will become the largest toll station in the country, larger than the Tepotzotlan station that currently has 24 lanes also equipped by Thales. The smart payment solution from Thales significantly improves traffic flows on intercity toll routes.

Key points

• Thales to install new payment collection equipment on 38 lanes of the San Martín toll station on the Mexico City–Puebla highway.
• The PITZ® (Peage Intelligent Transport Zero) solution allows integrated real-time management of toll payment on highways and improves traffic flows on intercity toll routes.
• Contract further cements Thales’s leadership in the Mexican toll solutions market, where it already has a 30% market share.

Thales has been selected by Mexican construction company SCIEP, which is responsible for improvement work on the highway contracted by the state owned development bank BANOBRAS. The toll collection point at San Martín Texmelucan will be extended from 18 to 38 lanes. Thales will upgrade the equipment on the existing lanes and install the necessary equipment on the new lanes.

The PITZ® (Peage Intelligent Transport Zero) solution, developed by Thales locally in Mexico, automatically identifies the class of each vehicle at the toll barrier, using optical and in-ground sensors to measure the vehicle dimensions and count the number of axles. It allows integrated real-time management of cash and electronic payment collection on toll highways.

The solution includes a complete videoprotection capability, with a CCTV camera at each booth, one for each lane, and a camera with panoramic view of the entire toll complex. All cameras are linked to a main control centre, which monitors the 38 lanes in real time. The contract also includes license plate recognition, which is a first for BANOBRAS.

Thales will carry out the work in two stages. Phase 1 covers the upgrade of the first 19 lanes and will be completed by October 2017. Phase 2 for the 19 new lanes should be completed by spring 2018, depending on the progress of the other aspects of the project.

Thales has a solid track record in the delivery of toll collection solutions in Mexico and to date has equipped around 40 toll stations on 10 highways for several operators.

This contract further cements Thales’s leadership in the Mexican toll systems market, where the company has a 30% market share. Thales operates a centre of excellence dedicated to toll solutions in Mexico, which employs almost 30% of Thales staff locally.