The National Rail Transport Directorate of the Ministry of Public Works of Uruguay has appointed Ineco as an expert consultant for the organisational structuring of the new Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) centre. Ineco will provide support for the CTC of the Central Railway for one year, advising on regulations and providing training for railway operation, safety, planning and freight transport. This is the company’s fifth contract for this project, and is the most significant in the Uruguayan network in recent years.

The project to modernise the Metro Medellín trains, in which Ineco is participating, has been awarded by the Antioquian Society of Engineers and Architects (SAI) as one of the most outstanding projects in Antioquian engineering in 2021. The company, which began collaborating with Metro Medellín in 2011, is carrying out the supervision of the fleet of 42 MAN trains. The project aims to extend the service life of these first-generation vehicles, which began operating in 1995 and were nearing the end of their useful life. The first eight modernised units are already in commercial operation. 

The SAI, founded in 1913, awards such prizes to works of high scientific or technical merit that represent a significant advance in the field of engineering. 

How much is the total investment of the MOPT in the country’s roads and ports and what percentage corresponds to the Inter-American Development Bank? 

Investment in road infrastructure works currently amounts to USD 1.55 billion, mainly from the Exim Bank of China, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The amount of recourse for the latter is around 46% of the total investment. There are currently no significant investments in ports, although the Moín Container Terminal in the Caribbean has recently been put into operation.

What progress would you highlight regarding the PIT?

The commencement of operations of the improvement of National Route 160, between Playa Naranjo and Paquera, in April 2021, has meant a change in the mobility dynamics of the North Pacific peninsular area and has provided important support to tourist activity. Through the commencement order for the improvements of the ferry terminal in Puerto Paquera, the connectivity of several cantons and districts by land or sea to the rest of the country will also be improved. Finally, the execution of the Angostura project will further improve mobility to and from the peninsula.

Furthermore, we will soon put into operation the Limonal-Cañas section of National Route 1, with the widening of the Route 1 from two to four lanes. These works also have a very positive impact on national and international land connectivity.

What about new projects envisaged within the PIV-APP?

The PIV-APP is a programme that has public-private partnership (PPA) from various fields at its core. Firstly, the construction of interchanges and improvements of Taras-La Lima on National Route 2, which is located in one of the areas of greatest demand in the Greater Metropolitan Area and in a major hub for the development of industrial and technological activity, which is attracting national and international companies. With this work, which is part of a comprehensive project to improve National Route 2 from San José to Cartago, we will improve the three km of the entrance to the city of Cartago. This government contribution to a potential private initiative for the improvement of the entire road corridor generates greater confidence and lower fees, which would make the initiative socially viable.

On the other hand, there is the San José-San Ramón Corridor Trust Fund’s Non-Delayable Works (OBIS) package 4, which both in its dynamic benefits, as well as its structuring, shares many characteristics with what was outlined above regarding Taras-La Lima. It consists of the construction of five interchanges (San Ramón, Naranjo, Grecia, Río Segundo and Juan Pablo Segundo), which will complement other OBIS packages that constitute the government’s contribution to the comprehensive development of the Trust Fund and will help with the viability, confidence and social acceptance of the project, among other aspects.

Finally, this programme also includes a component of consultations and studies to support and strengthen institutions in the area of public-private partnerships (APPs).

The investment in the PIT brings nearly USD 270 million including major improvements to the Interamericana Norte, Costa Rica’s main land logistics corridor, where the carriageway will be doubled to four lanes along 70 km

Your country forms a key stage of the Pan-American Highway. Is there institutional collaboration on infrastructure connecting Panama and Nicaragua? If so, in which projects?

Both within the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) and the Mesoamerica Project, the development of two corridors (Pacific and Atlantic) and their interconnections, from Puebla, Mexico, to Panama City, has been contemplated.

The investment in the PIT contributes close to USD 270 million in infrastructure, improving the Route 1 from Barranca to Cañas -just over 70 km – doubling the roadway from two to four lanes, incorporating all modernisation and road safety features and meeting the highest design standards. This will improve vehicle operating costs and substantially reduce travel times.

In logistics studies developed by the IDB, based on Costa Rica’s National Transport Plan 2011-2035, it has been determined that the main land logistics corridor in Costa Rica is that which runs between the Greater Metropolitan Area and the Peñas Blancas border. The 70 kilometres being upgraded on the Route 1 are part of this corridor. 

Finally, within the scope of SIECA and the Mesoamerica Project, there is support and coordination between the different countries that belong to them. In the case of SIECA, the Central American region, and in the case of the Mesoamerica Project, from Mexico to Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

In the Mesoamerica Project, Costa Rica coordinates the Transport Commission and is supported by multilateral cooperation agencies.

In a country with such a wealth of fauna and biodiversity, how do you plan to reconcile works and extensions with the conservation of the different ecosystems?

All programmes under development, including road projects, have considered, from the study and design stagea, the identification of biological corridors. Where these interact with the roads being upgraded, ‘hot spots’ have been identified where wildlife overpasses or subways have been implemented. Considerations have also been taken to adapt the design of bridges, where required, as well as to protect riverbeds.

The terrain and the high levels of rainfall are conditioning factors for the construction of roads. What conclusions have you drawn from these years of experience? How does it affect construction and subsequent maintenance?

Indeed, although our country is not very large, it stands out for the richness of its diversity. Therefore, when carrying out projects, we frequently encounter unforeseen events, including geologically unstable areas that have created problems when disturbed due to water, weight or other factors.

The study of the New San Carlos Road is an example in which all the variables necessary for adequate design and risk management are included; and specialists from various fields have been brought in to look for ways to improve the conditions that were originally proposed for the road and which caused problems.

With regard to the management of rainfall conditions, design standards have been adopted in new works to enable requirements to be adequately scaled.  However, the operation and maintenance of the National Road Network remains a challenge due to the large number of roads that need to be upgraded. 

Work has been carried out to the highest quality standards, major challenges have been overcome and all the projects will create many benefits for the country’s inhabitants

Which projects are expected to be completed by 2022?

The improvement of the NR 1 between Limonal and Cañas and that of La Angostura, on the NR17.

And which project are you most satisfied with?

It is very difficult to choose one of the works. Work has been carried out to the highest quality standards, major challenges have been overcome and all the projects bring us closer and create many benefits for the country’s inhabitants. All of them have been defined for a decade in the National Transport Plan and are part of a roadmap to follow in order to be competitive. 

Once again, Ineco is to update the Master Development Programmes for the 12 Mexican airports (Guadalajara, Tijuana, Mexicali, Hermosillo, Los Mochis, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Morelia, La Paz, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo) that are part of  the Pacific Airport Group (GAP), which is partly owned by Aena Internacional. The recovery in air traffic, which has returned to pre-pandemic levels, has given rise to a need for updated information in order to adequately plan airport development.

Ineco first began work on drawing up and revising these plans for the GAP in 2003. Currently, the company is preparing a Master Plan for Kingston airport in Jamaica, which –along with Montego Bay airport– is also managed by the GAP.

In July, Ineco attended the working group session titled ‘The Benefits of Galileo for Precision Agriculture’, which was held at the Galileo Information Centre in Brazil. Carmen Martín and Eva Ramírez, from the Sub-Directorate for Aerospace Systems, took part as panellists and contributed to the subsequent round table discussion.

Ineco is part of the consortium responsible for the centre in Brazil, which was opened in 2019, as well as the consortium for the centre in Mexico, which was opened in June (see IT72). The European Commission provides funding for information centres in different countries in order to raise awareness of Galileo and its applications outside the EU.

Simón Bolívar International Airport is situated in the far north of the Republic of Colombia, 16.5 kilometres from the city of Santa Marta, capital of the department of Magdalena. The region’s main tourist attractions include the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range, Tayrona National Park and the cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena, two of the country’s most important conurbations.

Opened some 60 years ago, in recent decades tourism and economic development in the region have caused airport traffic (primarily of domestic origin) to grow from 532,000 passengers in 2009 to 2.4 million in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.5%. To accommodate this growth, the airport was modernised in 2017 with new facilities such as a control tower, passenger terminal and car park.

In recent decades, tourism and economic development in the region have driven growth in airport traffic, with 2.4 million passengers in 2019

At present, the airport has one runway (01/19), which is 1,700 metres long by 40 metres wide and accessed via two taxiways. There is an apron with six stands for parking commercial aircraft, two general-purpose aviation hangars, and a helicopter pad. The three-storey terminal building covers an area of 14,600 m². There is also an underground car park for cars and motorcycles, and a surface-level car park for taxis and buses. Road access is via the Troncal del Caribe, one of the country’s most important trunk roads.

Despite these improvements, the investments that have been made in the Magdalena region to boost tourism mean that a growth in international traffic is expected over the coming years. This is reflected in the traffic forecasts in the Master Plan drawn up by the UTE APM Simón Bolívar consortium, which is led by Ineco and also includes the Spanish engineering firm Ivicsa. The Plan was approved by Colombia’s civil aviation authority, Aerocivil, in December 2020.

Future plans

The Master Plan is the centrepiece of the planning process for an airport. It sets out the path for development and growth based on different traffic forecasts. Taking the current situation as the starting point, a study is made of potential demand in different time horizons. The aim is to determine what infrastructure and services will be required, in accordance with international safety and quality standards, and when they will be required, along with an estimate of costs.

The Plan also evaluates the impact of the airport’s activities on its surroundings and coordinates actions with the aviation authorities, the local community, and local and regional administrations and public bodies. The final stage is approval of the Plan on the part of the state aviation authority (Aerocivil in the case of Colombia). In order to meet these objectives successfully, a Master Plan must be updated periodically, and whenever changes in demand require it to be modified.

Ineco has over 20 years of experience in the drafting and updating of Master Plans: not only for the Aena network of Spanish airports, but also for countries such as Mexico and Kuwait.

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENTS. Summary of the developments proposed by the Master Plan, in comparison with the airport’s current boundaries (marked in green). PLAN_UTE APM SIMÓN BOLÍVAR

The first step: predicting the evolution of traffic

In order to draw up the Master Plan, Ineco’s airport experts began by generating short, medium and long-term traffic forecasts for Simón Bolívar Airport, taking into account factors such as the anticipated growth in international tourism. After an exhaustive analysis they defined a number of different traffic horizons: in the short term, a volume of 3.5 million passengers, with 27,400 aircraft movements; in the medium term, 4.5 million passengers, with 35,000 movements; and in the long term, 7.3 million passengers with over 52,000 movements. In light of the investments made in recent years to promote tourism in the Magdalena region, it was estimated that almost 5% of this traffic could be international.

After preparing the traffic forecast, the experts then identified the needs of the existing infrastructure. They found that the length of the existing runway limited the potential for flights to international destinations in the region, and that it would therefore be necessary to extend it. They also concluded that both the terminal and apron were close to saturation; however, the airport’s proximity to the sea prevented expansion in its current location.

Consequently, in order to meet the forecast growth in traffic, the key action would be to extend the runway in order to serve new destinations up to 2,000 nautical miles away (e.g. New York, Mexico City), and to adapt the airfield so that it meets international standards. To achieve this, the Master Plan proposes a number of different expansion options, which have been evaluated using a multi-criteria matrix that takes into account factors such as air navigation and operability, costs and acquisition of land, impacts on urban areas, noise and restrictions due to obstacle limitation surfaces, construction feasibility, and the impacts on other infrastructure and the environment.

Proposed solutions

Once the needs and the different development options had been studied, the Master Plan defined the key actions to be taken with regard to each traffic horizon. The most notable actions comprise the extension of the runway over the sea platform, for which Ineco prepared a design in 2021; and the transfer of the commercial traffic operations to the eastern side of the runway, which would involve the construction of new taxiways, apron, terminal building, car parks, access routes and other facilities.

In total, the Plan aims to improve the airport’s operational safety, meet the forecast demand, enable the development of new activities associated with the airport environment, and facilitate the airport’s potential development even beyond the horizons studied in the Master Plan.

In the airfield area, the plan is to extend the runway towards the south, in order to provide an available take-off run of 2,040 metres. This will make it possible to operate flights to JFK using A320 Neo aircraft without compromising the number of passengers. Additionally, the Plan proposes enlarging the runway strip to a width of 150 metres and adding runway end safety areas (RESAs) at both ends, in accordance with Colombian Aeronautical Regulation RAC 14.

To carry out these works, breakwaters and earthworks will be used to reclaim land from the sea and reroute the railway line that runs close to the current airfield. These works are designed to maximise the current capacity of the facilities –in order to accommodate up to 3.2 million passengers per year–and will be carried out within a short strategic time frame, in order to be able to handle the anticipated levels of traffic in the coming years.

In the medium term, the commercial operations will be moved to the east of the airfield, thereby making it possible to undertake a major expansion of the airport by creating a new apron, terminal building and car parks, in addition to the auxiliary facilities required to enter into operation (rescue and fire-fighting services, power plant, etc.). In the long term, in order to handle 7.3 million passengers it will be necessary to enlarge the apron to provide 13 aircraft parking stands, expand the terminal building to 35,000 m² and enlarge the various surface-level car parks constructed during the previous stages.

The Plan also provides for new road access from the Troncal del Caribe: this, together with the FENOCO (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Colombia) railway line will enable the development of an intermodal connection, which is of vital importance to the strategic projects being planned for Santa Marta’s district of cultural, historical and tourist interest.

This intermodal connection will also facilitate the development within the airport of an area for complementary activities (e.g. FBOs, specialist logistics, maintenance and cargo facilities). Land has been set aside for this purpose, in line with the strategic national vision of the country’s civil aviation authority. The current facilities to the west of the runway will be used for general aviation operations (FBOs) or other purposes.

The Master Plan also includes an estimate of the investment required, distributed (approximately) as follows: 35% in the short term, 51% in the medium term, and the remaining 14% in the long term.

Ineco joins a new project in Jamaica with the update of the Master Plan for the Norman Manley Airport in Kingston. The project involves the analysis of air traffic forecasts, the collection of the data necessary to carry out airport planning and the proposed development of existing facilities up to 2040. This work for the concessionaire PAC Kingston Airport Limited, which belongs to Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), owned by Aena Internacional, follows the work already carried out for Sangster Airport in Montego Bay and Ian Flemming Airport in Boscobel, in the north of the island. Ineco has updated the master plans for both, as well as managing and projecting various works at Sangster International, where it began working more than a decade ago (see ITRANSPORTE 62 and 67). 

Since 2 June, the European satellite navigation system, Galileo, has had a new Information Centre in Mexico City, located in the facilities of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

The objectives of the centre, similar to others existing in different parts of the world, such as Brazil –in which Ineco is also involved– and Chile, are to promote and disseminate Galileo in its geographical area (Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean), as well as to monitor local initiatives for use in different fields and to provide training in satellite navigation, bringing together industrial, institutional and university/research sectors.

Ineco will support Telespazio, the project coordinator, in tasks related to market analysis and stakeholder identification, as well as in establishing industrial collaborations between European and Latin American partners. The project will run for three years.

This centre contributes to the European Commission’s space outreach activities to promote EU Space Programmes and encourage their use in the Latin American market.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has contracted Ineco through a public tender to implement the BIM (Building Information Modeling) methodology in construction projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is the company’s second BIM contract in the region in recent months, following the recent contract to provide a training course for experts from another multilateral financial institution, CAF (see ITRANSPORTE 71).

The objective of the consultancy is to generate a methodology to measure the economic, performance and management impacts and results of BIM implementation in construction sector projects. The contract is for a period of five months and includes the implementation of three pilot projects.

El Dorado international airport in Bogotá, Colombia, is one of the most important airports in Latin America: it is the third largest in terms of passenger volume, with more than 35 million passengers per year, the second largest in terms of operations, with 315,000 flights, and the largest in terms of the volume of air cargo transported, with around 725,000 tonnes per year, according to 2019 data from the Civil Aeronautics Air Transport office. Expansion plans underway to meet the increase in traffic expected by 2030 include the implementation of an Apron Management Service, or AMS, to improve efficiency and reduce ground movement delays.

Ineco, together with the Colombian engineering company Integral, has carried out the technical, operational, administrative and cost studies for Aerocivil, the Colombian aeronautical authority, to develop and implement an AMS at El Dorado, the first of its kind in the country. To this end, the different possibilities for its implementation and the conditions for the tendering and contracting of the service by Aerocivil have been analysed.

An AMS is an airport service that is specifically dedicated to managing and securing the movement of vehicles and aircraft on aprons. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommends the implementation of an AMS when warranted by traffic volume and operating conditions. In Spain, its implementation was gradually introduced, starting in 2011, in airports with an annual traffic of over 250,000 flights, such as Madrid and Barcelona. Until 2017, Ineco was in charge of the transition and provision of the service in Madrid for Aena and provided support to Enaire in Barcelona, where the service was handled by control staff.

MONITORING FROM THE TOWER. It is proposed that the future AMS facility be physically located on the first floor of the control tower. In 2011, Ineco and the Spanish architecture firm GOP were commissioned to study, design and outfit the new tower. / PHOTO_INECO-AEROCIVIL

At the international level, different AMS models exist in Canada, China, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. In the United States, the system is implemented at major airports such as JFK in New York, Chicago and Las Vegas; and in Europe, at Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Frankfurt, Amsterdam-Schiphol, Munich and Zurich airports.

In Colombia, the Apron Management Service at all airports is carried out through coordinated management between the air traffic services (ATS), the aerodrome administration and the airlines. Specifically, in the case of El Dorado International Airport, the control tower is currently responsible for regulating movement between aprons, controlling the entry of aircraft and ensuring the rapid and safe movement of vehicles, among other activities.

Assigning these functions to an AMS unit will reduce the workload of ground controllers (GND), enabling them to better manage taxiing on the manoeuvring area. The increased specialisation of the AMS in the management of taxiing and reversing on aprons will also help to improve operational fluidity and efficiency.

Operational positions of the AMS: in the centre, the supervisor and on both sides, the operators.

The implementation of the AMS does not necessarily require major investments in new infrastructure, equipment or technology, since the same infrastructures are used as those employed by tower control. In the case of El Dorado, it is proposed to physically locate the service on the first floor of the new control tower. In 2011, Ineco and the Spanish architecture firm GOP were commissioned to study, design and outfit the new tower (see ITRANSPORTE 46).

Thus, the proposal, developed in coordination with Aerocivil’s Directorate of Telecommunications and Air Navigation Aids, will not require major adaptation works, apart from the upgrading of the electrical system and the radio transmitter centre, as well as the establishment of intermediate waiting points on the airfield to identify the traffic transfer points between the control tower and the AMS. Cameras (CCTV) will be installed at the non-visible points of the commercial aprons (T1, T2 and TC), which are the responsibility of the AMS, an area that has been divided into two sectors: north and south. The service will also be supported by an A-SMGCS (Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System), which automatically alerts and resolves potential aircraft and vehicle conflicts regardless of weather conditions), which is being deployed at El Dorado.

A new AMS-specific CCTV system will be installed on the apron to ensure the availability of cameras in areas not directly visible from the tower. / PHOTO_INECO-AEROCIVIL

Project development

This project was developed through the structuring and scope established in the terms of reference defined jointly with the GPA and the Directorate of Air Navigation Services of the Colombian Civil Aeronautics.

Ineco’s multidisciplinary team carried out a field visit and around fifty working groups with the different stakeholders involved throughout the three phases of the project:

Diagnosis of the current situation

The first step was to gather all available information on the airport’s equipment, procedures, infrastructure, operations and human resources, as well as applicable national and international standards and recommendations. The operation of more than 4,000 flights was also sampled for the months of December 2019 to March 2020.

In addition, a benchmarking study of three international airports with an AMS –Madrid-Barajas, Amsterdam-Schiphol and Frankfurt – was carried out to assess implementation alternatives and the AMS model best suited to the needs of El Dorado. Among other conclusions drawn from this comparative analysis were the weight of staff training –between three months and one year, depending on the airport– in service start-up times, the improvement in operational efficiency and costs, and the maintenance of safety levels, since AMS operators receive specific training and provide pilots with exactly the same information and instructions as controllers.

A snapshot of the information-gathering field visit, which also included the analysis of more than 4,000 flights.

AMS proposal

Based on the conclusions of the diagnosis and the benchmarking study, up to six different service implementation alternatives were analysed to identify the most suitable for El Dorado. To this end, aspects such as the distribution of functions between the ATS and the AMS, the physical location of the service, the adaptation of the control and navigation systems (ATM, CNS and MET), the provision model (Aeronáutica Civil will evaluate the implementation model of the project based on the results of these studies), and the definition of the regulations: the establishment of specific conditions in the specifications or changes to the national regulations, the Colombian Aeronautical Regulations (CAR), which are considered the most appropriate.

The proposed functions to be assumed by the AMS at El Dorado airport, which until now were carried out by the control tower, include:

• Providing apron instructions to aircraft and trailers, such as push-back and taxiing instructions to or from the parking stand assigned by the Operations Coordination Centre (OCC), which will communicate this to both apron management and tower control.
• Monitor compliance with TOBT (Target Off-Block Time) and TSAT (Target Start-Up Approval Time) targets. The service will be integrated into the airport’s A-CDM (collaborative decision making) processes.
• Monitoring tarmac vehicle traffic to avoid aircraft hazards and reporting non-compliance.
• The implementation of the service will take place during towing to SPOTs, the painted markings on the pavement of taxiways indicating where aircraft can start taxiing, after taxiing back from the parking position, and the setting of the radio frequencies established for the respective operational coordination.
• Implementing the Low Visibility Procedure (LVP, an action protocol that is activated in the event that visibility is reduced below certain values due to weather conditions).

To this end, local coordination procedures (letters of agreement) have been developed, in coordination with Aerocivil air traffic control staff, covering those functions where responsibility is divided or coordination of the AMS with the
responsible party for the function, such as tower control or the airport manager, is required.

In terms of staffing, a team of six supervisors and 18 AMS operators, who will receive specific training, is proposed. For this, the Centre for Aeronautical Studies (CEA) of Aerocivil, which has developed a specific training programme for AMS personnel, has collaborated in this project.

A security analysis of the procedures and the implementation of the AMS has been carried out, as well as an implementation and operational cost study.

Implementation plan

Lastly, the technical specifications and specifications for a public tender for a turnkey project contract were drawn up, in the event that the Civil Aeronautics Authority should decide to have a third party provide the service: preliminary studies, market analysis, minute of the contract, technical specifications, formats, etc.

The proposed contract duration is six years (12 months of implementation and five years of service provision), which has been deemed the most appropriate period to balance the interests of Civil Aviation and at the same time make the tender attractive to a sufficient number of candidates.

Traffic control in the movement area

It is not only necessary to monitor and organise air traffic movements when aircraft are in the air, but also when they are on the ground, taxiing around the airport. All aircraft movements on the ground are managed by control personnel, or by AMS personnel if on aprons, where the safe and smooth coexistence of aircraft with all vehicles and personnel moving along the apron must be ensured.

The AMS will reduce the tower control workload. / PHOTO_INECO-AEROCIVIL

In addition to the aircraft, there are a number of vehicles that operate in the movement area following strict safety protocols and procedures: tractors, which tow the aircraft from the assigned parking positions; follow me; service and supply (handling); fuel supply; loading and unloading of luggage and freights; and mobile stairway trucks and buses for embarking and disembarking passengers and crews. In addition, where appropriate, there are emergency and security vehicles (ambulance, fire brigade, civil protection, police, etc.), customs, cleaning and maintenance vehicles, customs, cleaning and maintenance. As a result, the movement area at busy airports, and in particular the aprons where aircraft are parked, can become congested. Ensuring that all aircraft and vehicle movements are carried out safely and smoothly is fundamental to the efficiency of airport operations, where every second counts. Hence, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations for airport design and operations provide for the possibility of traffic management on the apron to be entrusted to an apron management service (AMS) that is separate from the air traffic service (ATS), which is in charge of tower control.

El Dorado apron with the control tower in the background. / PHOTO_INECO-AEROCIVIL

The functions and responsibilities of each must be perfectly defined and both services must be coordinated with each other, for which a protocol called ‘Letter of Agreement’ (LoA) is established, which specifies the areas of responsibility of each service, when, how and where control is transferred from one to the other (transfer points), the procedures to be followed in the event of Low Visibility Procedures (LVP), emergencies and contingencies, etc.