New lights promise to slash emissions and energy bills
Siemens Mobility has installed low energy LED technology at thousands of traffic lights across London, in an effort to make the capital's traffic signals brighter, greener, and less high maintenance.
The transport technology company revealed earlier this week that it has finished a three-month programme of retrofits across 161 locations in north and northeast London.
The scheme is set to deliver major energy and cost savings for Transport for London (TfL) by curbing its reliance on traditional incandescent signals, which are high maintenance and consume large amounts of power. Siemens said the roll out is set to deliver 75 per cent power savings and "significantly reduce operational costs".
Transport for London (TfL)'s director of network management Glynn Barton said the roll out of the new lighting technology would make London's infratructure "greener, more sustainable and cheaper to run".
"We're always striving to improve our network, be more efficient and safer, and replacing the traditional bulbs in signals with LEDs has made a real difference," he added.
Meanwhile, Wilke Reints, managing director of Siemens' Intelligent Traffic Systems, stressed that retrofit programmes were necessary for operators to future proof themselves against "expected future bans" on incandescent signal bulbs.
"With this retrofit solution, we are helping transport bodies and local authorities to keep their transport networks running both efficiently and cost effectively," he said.
Wilke said that the programme of work - which had resulted in the retrofit of more than 6,000 amber and green signals, 950 regulatory box signs, and 1,900 push buttons - "underlined TfL's commitment to sustainability".
Siemens said it is working with on a number retrofit programmers, as local authorities take steps to slash their carbon footprint as they work towards the UK's long term net zero emissions goal.
LED signals also carry numerous safety benefits to road users and pedestrians because they have higher visibility that traditional lights.