My first several weeks as president of Ineco have given me a first-hand look at the excellent work of a team that stands above the rest. A team with a long history –this year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the company– but above all, with enormous talent to continue designing the future.

Our condition as a public engineering firm drives us to continue contributing actively to the development of Spain’s infrastructure, and area where we will continue to focus a large part of our technical potential through the professionals who form part of Ineco, exporting the broad knowledge acquired in Spain to other parts of the world.

In this sense, within Spain, we continue to work with our shareholders on a very wide variety of projects throughout our country. This issue of ITRANSPORTE covers several examples, including the complex project to resolve the Bergara Junction in the ‘Basque Y’ and the comprehensive modernization of the railway line between Palencia and Santander.

The team of professionals who form part of the Ineco has enormous talent to continue designing the future

In parallel, Ineco’s participation in large-scale engineering projects around the world, such as the Makkah-Madinah high-speed line, which at the close of this issue is already a reality that is underway, or the recommendations for the design of a new model of railway management in Malaysia, continue to highlight Ineco’s position as a leader outside of our borders.

It is also important to emphasize our contribution in the development of new projects aimed at implementing efficiency, safety and digitization in transport systems. The designing of equipment that recovers and returns the surplus energy generated by train braking to the grid, wildlife control plans at airports, and the implementation of the Digital Transformation Plan 2018-2020, are clear examples of this.

This is a key project and the most complex one that Adif Alta Velocidad faces in the entire ‘Basque Y’ network, with Ineco carrying out the construction projects in collaboration with Basque railway company ETS. The result is a set of optimised projects in which the layout design of this network of railway tunnels was finally resolved with the decision to divide it into three sectors instead of the initial four.

UDALAITZ TUNNEL. Part of the geomechanical profile of the Udalaitz Tunnel (Sector 2).

The Ministry of Public Works plans to complete this high-speed line, which connects the centre and southeast of the Iberian Peninsula via Madrid to the Basque Country and France, in 2023. Last July, the contract was awarded for the last of the three stretches that make up the Bergara junction, which covers 21.2 kilometres and is dominated by tunnels and viaducts where the three branches that link the cities of Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián meet. In total, 14.8 kilometres of single-track and 3.6 kilometres of double-track tunnel have been designed. The tunnels will be excavated using conventional methods with four points of attack.

The Bergara Junction, with construction projects prepared by Ineco, is the most complex project that Adif Alta Velocidad must undertake in the entire ‘Basque Y’ network

All of the sectors have been designed for mixed traffic, with a maximum speed of 220 km/h and minimum speed of 90 km/h. To allow the tunnels to operate, each one has been designed with an independent drainage system for the collection of hazardous substances and contaminants. The project also includes all of the necessary safety measures, including 22 evacuation galleries between tunnels, as well as walls, drains, environmental integration, areas for ancillary facilities, repositioning of rights of way and affected services, inert waste dump and any other actions necessary for execution. After the works have been completed, the land will be restored to its original state.

‘BASQUE Y’ HIGH SPEED. Platform construction project. / PLAN_INECO

The project is co-financed by the Connect Europe Facility (CEF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The drafting of the projects involved optimisation of previous construction projects:

• Shorter timescales.
• Improved tunnel design in complex geological areas.
• Improved instrumentation measurements for the monitoring of works.
• Landfill management.
• Adaptation of designs to environmental protection requirements.
• Tightened budgets.

CRUCIAL CONNECTION FOR THE ‘BASQUE Y’

The Bergara interchanges connects the three ‘arms’ of the ‘Basque Y’, with 50% running through tunnels, 10% on viaducts, and the remaining 20% above ground.

MAP_BASQUE GOVERMENT

The viaduct and the European mink

The Kortazar viaduct, located in sector 3, consists of a continuous beam deck made from pre-stressed concrete and embedded into two V-shaped piles that act as fixed points. The project is the result of a study of several configurations that needed to take into account the impact of the central piles on both the N-636 road below and the habitat of a colony of European mink. In the image, the longitudinal cross-section of the Kortazar viaduct.