ETC to go live in India on October 31st, 2014

            The end is over, the test phase is over. Now it is time to go live.

On October31, 2014 Shri Nitin Gadkari, India’s Highway Minister will inaugurate the Electronic Toll Collection system

            Due to unavoidable issues, the launch was postponed from October 27 to October 31.

"The launching of the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system has been rescheduled. The Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari will now inaugurate the system on October 31 instead of October 27," an official statement said.

            The pilot project for Interoperable ETC system of 10 toll plazas between Mumbai (Charoti) and Ahmedabad was successful and seamless ETC on this section is successfully in operation.

            The live roll-out is planned completed on the Delhi-Mumbai route via Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

            ETC has already been installed at 55 Toll Plazas and their integration with Central Clearing House (CCH) operators has almost been completed.

The central government has issued orders to incorporate ETC lanes as a mandatory clause in the contracts awarded for all the highways projects in future.

"Action will be taken to include ETC system by means of supplementary agreement in those projects which have not yet been started," the statement said.

Necessary amendments have already been made in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 for fitment of Radio Frequency Identification tag on vehicles for ETC.

In order to remove the bottlenecks and ensure seamless movement of traffic and collection of toll as per the notified rates, Government had constituted a committee on Electronic Toll Collection technology for use on National Highways under the chairmanship of Shri Nandan Nilekani, Ex-Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India.

The Committee's mandate was to examine all technologies available for ETC and recommend the most suitable technology for local conditions. Considering user convenience, rate of acceptance and ease of implementation, the passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based on EPC, Gen-2, ISO 18000-6C Standards for ETC technology was adopted by the Government.

Once the Toll Plaza is migrated to ECT mode, it will have a dedicated lane for RFID fitted vehicles.  A fine will be levied on Non-RFID vehicles entering the dedicated lane. This fine is expected to discourage non-RFID vehicles to migrate to RFID mode quickly.

The IHMCL core message is: “Experience the freedom of near non-stop movement through toll plazas and the convenience of cashless payment of toll with our nation-wide interoperable Electronic Toll Collection Services”.