{"id":1419,"date":"2019-01-08T15:01:58","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T15:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/?p=1419"},"modified":"2025-05-19T15:03:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T14:03:37","slug":"virtual-queuing-system-aims-to-reduce-impact-of-operation-brock-post-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/2019\/01\/08\/virtual-queuing-system-aims-to-reduce-impact-of-operation-brock-post-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual queuing system aims to reduce impact of Operation Brock post-Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Developed by the University\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cs.kent.ac.uk\/\">School of Computing<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/kbs\/about\/\">Kent Business School<\/a>\u00a0(KBS) this dynamic digital solution would\u00a0manage cross channel traffic in ways similar to air traffic control\u00a0at airports.<\/p>\n<p>For example, during Operation Brock drivers would join the \u2018queue\u2019 as soon as they are ready to travel from\u00a0anywhere in the country. When there are delays at the ports or Channel Tunnel they would then be advised to delay their journeys or take a break as soon as the delay is reported, often\u00a0before they get to Kent. In effect the virtual queue can\u00a0\u2018hold\u2019 hundreds of trucks\u00a0at different locations across the country rather than physically in Kent.<\/p>\n<p>The held trucks can then be \u2018released\u2019 in a managed way via an app or text message. The system could also\u00a0enable penalties to be imposed\u00a0upon those drivers who ignore the virtual queue.<\/p>\n<p>The advantages of this system would be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vehicles could be held across a\u00a0number of locations<\/li>\n<li>Drivers in multiple locations\u00a0can be told to when to start travelling\u00a0again<\/li>\n<li>All involved can be\u00a0updated on the queue status<\/li>\n<li>Seamless queuing\u00a0would enable better forecasting<\/li>\n<li>Ultimately the system could\u00a0link to inland customs\u00a0clearance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The research is led by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/kbs\/people\/profiles\/salhi-said.html\">Professor Said Salhi\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/kbs\/people\/profiles\/ohanley-jesse.html\">Dr Jesse O\u2019Hanley\u00a0<\/a>from KBS, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cs.kent.ac.uk\/people\/staff\/dfc\/site\/\">Dr Dominique Chu<\/a>\u00a0from Computing. Collaborative partners such as operators from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kentprepared.org.uk\/\">Kent Resilience Forum<\/a>\u00a0whose members include Highways England, Eurotunnel, Port of Dover, Kent Police and Border Force, software providers and sector groups such as the automotive industry are being sought to ensure the long term viability of the project, which came about following the\u00a0<em>Keep Kent Moving Forum<\/em>\u00a0at the University\u2019s Canterbury campus during the summer of 2018.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the Forum delegates were required to come up with digital innovations that would address the issues caused by Operation Brock. These include the\u00a0expected delays and disruption\u00a0that in the past have led to gridlock across Kent and the formation of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Operation_Stack\">Operation Stack<\/a>\u00a0to park lorries in Kent.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers are now seeking data sets to start to establish and test the ideas, aiming for a trial and phased introduction during 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The Dover sea crossing and Channel Tunnel at Cheriton provides the highest capacity for access to and from European countries for freight. Up to 5,500 trucks per day cross from the UK to France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Developed by the University\u2019s\u00a0School of Computing\u00a0and\u00a0Kent Business School\u00a0(KBS) this dynamic digital solution would\u00a0manage cross channel traffic in ways similar to air traffic control\u00a0at airports. For &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/2019\/01\/08\/virtual-queuing-system-aims-to-reduce-impact-of-operation-brock-post-brexit\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74795,"featured_media":878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[282613,256065,877,9112],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1420,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions\/1420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}