Ineco has been commissioned by Alstom to carry out an independent safety assessment (ISA) of the electromechanical system for the airport branch of Line 2 of the Panama Metro. The section runs for approximately two kilometres and connects Line 2 to the Eastern Advanced Technical Institute (ITSE) and Tocumen International Airport. Ineco also carried out the ISAs for Lines 1 and 2 in 2019. ISAs can only be performed by an assessor that, like Ineco, has been accredited by an official body (ENAC, in Spain). They play a vital role in ensuring that any part of a railway system (track, installations, equipment, rolling stock), whether new or modified, is safe and can enter into operation or continue to be used (see IT56 and 67).

Additionally, and also on behalf of Alstom, Ineco is to carry out an ISA of the on-board ERTMS equipment installed on the 30 Prima M4 locomotives that the French manufacturer has begun to deliver to railway operators in Morocco.

How can we ensure that a taximeter is reliable or that a nuclear facility is safe, that a bulletproof vest is really bulletproof or that the MOT that reviews a vehicle does not act arbitrarily? In Spain, more than 1,600 entities ensure that many products, procedures and services available in the market comply with the regulations of their respective sector. A Spanish government body, the National Accreditation Entity (ENAC), is responsible for authorising who guarantees the safety of consumers and end users. Entities must renew their accreditation every year, demonstrating that they comply with the strict requirements of independence, rigour and transparency that are required for this work.

Rail lines

The wide range of products and services subject to receiving a certification endorsed by an ENAC entity covers any type of production and different types of entities, such as testing or calibration laboratories, inspectors, or certifiers and environmental verifiers from practically any sector: industry, energy, environment, health, agriculture and food, research, development and innovation, telecommunications, tourism, services, construction, transport, etc.

The inspection activity of Ineco falls within the latter, specifically within railway, and in 2009 it obtained its first ENAC accreditation as an ‘independent safety assessor’ with the number 76/EI058. In 2015, it was renewed and extended to the fields of rolling stock, energy, infrastructure, maintenance and exploitation and traffic management. The company has a multidisciplinary team consisting of professionals accredited by ENAC. The work of the entities certified by ENAC, moreover, is not only valid in Spain, but also in the over 70 countries with which it has mutual recognition agreements, including the European Union, United States, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India, United Arab Emirates and Mexico, amongst others.

Why an independent safety assessment?

In addition to rolling stock, since the beginning of rail at the end of the 19th century, the main rail elements related to safety have been signalling systems, in order to avoid the greatest risk of all: collisions between trains. From manual signals to lights, to digital systems and radio without physical signals on the tracks –as is the case for ERTMS level 2–, the different control, command and signalling systems (ASFA, LZB, ERTMS, etc.) have evolved to become more complex and sophisticated, always with the objective of guaranteeing the safe circulation of trains.

The current rail lines –conventional and high speed–, are very complex infrastructure that consist of a large number of elements and undergo very extensive legal and technical regulation that requires a high degree of specialisation by the inspectors. From the time they are planned until they are commissioned, European and international regulations require verification that each and every one of the elements and subsystems work correctly, from the simplest, such as the ventilation of a tunnel, to the most complex, such as software.

For this purpose, two types of safety study are carried out. On one hand, risk analyses, in which threats are identified that could bring the system to a potentially dangerous situation and work is being carried out on mitigation measures or barriers to avoid them. They can be carried out in any stage of the project and seek to detect the weak points of the system. Moreover, and on a higher level, there is the type of study known as ISA (Independent Safety Assessment). Unlike risk analyses, ISA can only be carried out by an accredited entity. They are essential to guarantee for a third party –the operator or rail authority– that a new line or modification of an existing line is safe and can begin or continue to be used.

Ineco will carry out the supervision and technical management of the design, manufacture and fine-tuning of twenty new trains acquired by the Medellín Metro from the Spanish manufacturer CAF. This new acquisition will represent the manufacture and delivery –both supervised by Ineco– of a total of 36 CAF trains for the Medellín Metro. Ineco began collaborating with the Medellín Metro in 2010 after the Spanish manufacturer CAF was awarded a contract for the construction of the first 13 trains as well as the signalling equipment (ATC) for 26 driver’s cabs. The purchase of all of these trains adheres to the Medellín Metro’s 2006-2030 Master Plan called Confianza en el futuro (‘Faith in the future’), which aims to increase transport capacity and meet the growth in demand.

Ineco has executed inspection work on railway equipment for over 20 years. The company boasts experience in technical assistance for large equipment supply, encompassing wide-ranging sectors including the construction of EMUs, DMUs and new locomotives, as well as refurbishment work on railway equipment, freight cars and auxiliary equipment such as draisines, special infrastructure maintenance vehicles and on-board equipment. Ineco was certified by ENAC (National Accreditation Entity) as a Rail Rolling Stock Inspection Organisation (Type C) in 2003 (see article 76/EI058: safety with identity card).