If there is one thing that defines Ineco, it is the ability to adapt to changes and propose solutions to face future scenarios, a trait embedded in our teams. More than 4,000 professionals bring their solid experience, knowledge and innovative spirit to progress towards models in line with the times, where sustainability and digitalisation are the cornerstones on which our company’s strategy is built on.

As a result, digitalisation and the application of new technologies make it possible to improve the inspection and monitoring processes for infrastructure and bridges, making progress in models for which Ineco has more than three decades of experience. An example is the innovation project developed by the company which makes use of drones and has been successfully tested for the radio aid calibration system.

The extensive experience, as well as the avant-garde and entrepreneurial spirit of the company’s professionals, allow Ineco, together with other companies in our country, to integrate Spanish engineering talent into projects that are revolutionising mobility around the world

The extensive experience, as well as the avant-garde and entrepreneurial spirit of the company’s professionals, allow Ineco, together with other companies in our country, to integrate Spanish engineering talent into projects that are revolutionising mobility around the world. In this edition, we highlight our participation in the execution of the new tunnel under the river Thames in London, in the implementation of the ERTMS system in the Danish railway network, and in the administrative, environmental and legal management of roads upgrading program promoted by Costa Rica. All these actions are aimed at improving sustainability, safety and mobile connectivity, which translates into benefits for citizens. We noted improvements in the user experience, such as that provided by the Automatic Baggage Handling System (SATE), designed by Ineco at airports of Kastelli, in Greece and Schiphol, in Amsterdam.

The company’s Architecture with gender perspective team presents designs that are committed to inclusion. This is a pioneering project in the sector that seeks to integrate this aspect and guarantee full equality in the field of infrastructures and transport. An objective that is part of our 2030 Agenda Plan, that includes the use of engineering to support the most disadvantaged, across projects deployed in Africa, Asia and America which has allowed us to provide basic services and improve the quality of life of more than 44,000 people.

This plan includes various works on roads throughout the country, through public-private partnership models, alongside the Transport Infrastructure Programme (PIT) that Ineco has also been in charge of since 2016 and which has recently been extended until 2023. Both programmes have been financed with loans from the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank), with an investment of USD 450 million and USD 125 million respectively, as well as a contribution of USD 53 million from the MOPT. The shared objective is to increase the country’s competitiveness by improving its road and port infrastructure, to reduce costs and travel times for people and goods, and to increase road safety.

For more than 15 years, Costa Rica has undertaken several programmes to improve its transport routes, a notable investment drive in infrastructures with which Ineco began to collaborate in 2004, participating in works such as the National Transport Plan, the modernisation of the airport network –with various improvements having also been carried out since then– and the research project for the implementation of a railway transport system in the metropolitan area of the capital, San José, which is now a reality. 

The Costa Rican government is making a major effort to improve the country’s infrastructure

The country’s geographical location means that the 660 kilometres long Inter-American Highway has become the backbone of the country’s road network. The Inter-American Highway is a huge 48,000 kilometres long route that runs the length of the continent from Alaska to Ushuaia in Argentina. The Costa Rican section of this road is of great importance for the internal mobility of people and goods. It enters the country through the northern town of Peñas Blancas and crosses the central part of the country through San José, a stretch known as Route 1, and from here it runs to the Panamanian border town of Paso Canoas, Route 2. The enlargement and improvements on both sections are therefore a matter of national interest.

The San Carlos Route, a key connection

Among the key works of the PIV-APP are those related to the San Carlos Route: they consist of the technical, economic, financial and environmental feasibility study, as well as the pre-design of National Route 35, the road to San Carlos along the Bernardo Soto-Florencia section. 

The new road linking National Route 1 (Bernardo Soto road) with the city of San Carlos (Ciudad Quesada and Florencia), is made up of four sections. The first is the intersection with National Route 1, the Bernardo Soto-Sifón (South end) road; the second, the Sifón-Abundancia section, (currently under construction with four lanes in the middle section); the third, Abundancia-Ciudad Quesada; and the fourth, Abundancia-Florencia. These last two sections have been constructed under the so-called ‘D+C’ (design plus construction) model, works financed through the IDB (PIV-I), which have already been completed and are in operation.

The PIT and the PIV-APP, in which Ineco is collaborating, are part of Costa Rica’s National Transport Plan 2011-2035

This road, in its entire length (taking into account the 4 sections), is designated as a priority corridor by both the Government of the Republic and other sectors, such as the so-called ‘Consensus Group for the Rescue of the National Road Network’. Its strategic importance lies in the fact that it connects the Central Plateau with a very important agricultural and productive area for the country, as well as being part of the International Network of Mesoamerican Highways (RICAM).

Route 17: The Angostura.

The implementation of the PIV-APP also seeks to contribute to the country’s competitiveness through the improvement and environmentally sustainable expansion of the High Capacity Road Network (RVAC) in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), which includes the conurbations of San José, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia, in addition to supporting the development of road infrastructure projects through Public-Private Partnership (APP) models. The high rate of population growth and the deficit in infrastructure development contribute to road congestion, which particularly affects the Greater Metropolitan Area, where 70% of the population uses public transport. The programme aims to counteract environmental impacts, improve competitiveness and enhance the quality of life in this densely populated area of the Costa Rican capital.

Members of the Ineco team at the offices in San José, where the consultancy for the planning, coordination and administrative, technical, legal and environmental management of the Transport Infrastructure Programme (PIT), launched by the Costa Rican government, is being undertaken.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) of Costa Rica has extended the contract with Ineco for the administrative, technical, legal and environmental management of the Transport Infrastructure Programme (PIT) for another 32 months, until 2023. The programme, financed by two loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for a total of 450 million dollars, includes ten strategically important actions on roads and ports (see ITRANSPORTE 62). After winning the international tender held by the MOPT and the IDB in 2016, Ineco is acting as the Programme Execution Unit, in charge of planning and monitoring all of the technical and administrative tasks, in close collaboration with the Ministry.

According to the MOPT, the contract has been extended to adjust to changes in the planning of PIT actions, to which it has added three more road projects: construction of road links in Taras and Cartago, doubling of 2.4 kilometres in La Angostura, in Puntarenas, and extension and rehabilitation of 70.8 kilometres of the Northern Inter-American Highway, between Barranca, Limonal and Cañas. The PIT, which is part of Costa Rica’s National Transport Plan 2011-2035, includes seven other projects to improve and expand roads in different parts of the country and three works in ports.

In extraordinary times like these, properly harnessing our potential is also yielding extraordinary results. With our vocation for innovation and the solid capacity to adapt that we have demonstrated since the very beginning, the current situation has allowed us to consolidate the strengths that set us apart, design new services that respond to emerging needs, and offer the best from our primary asset, the team that makes up Ineco. In short, we are moving forward, growing together.

The role and talent of Spanish engineering has meant that, for the first time in the more than 50 years of our history, we are now operating on all five continents. We have made our entry into Australia as part of the technical team that is promoting the modernisation of Sydney’s commuter network, drawing on Ineco’s extensive experience in the railway sector. In addition to this project, which is a symbolic milestone for all of us, Ineco was also awarded contracts with Rail Baltica and the works for Vilnius airport, both in Europe, the sustainability study for Dammam airport and the integral management of the plan for the Kuwait international airport expansion, in Asia, and the project recently signed in Costa Rica, on the American continent.

In Spain, we continue to focus our work on continuing to grow together with our clients and shareholders, contributing to the maintenance of essential services that seek to guarantee sustainable development, such as the services provided in Spain for Aena related to its carbon footprint and the fight against climate change,the work for ENAIRE, which for the first time successfully tested remote operation of SACTA, and the works and installations for Adif that will enable it to improve the quality of the service and advance in the efforts to bring high-speed rail to Extremadura.

In extraordinary times like these, properly harnessing our potential is also yielding extraordinary results

Ineco’s commitment to developing its talent has enabled it to continue to grow its position as a ground-breaking transport engineering and consultancy firm in the design of innovative and cutting-edge projects. One clear example of this is the international Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award given by Esri, a world leader in software for Geographic Information Systems, which recognises Ineco’s ground-breaking work in Spain using the BIM methodology in a GIS environment when designing a new stretch of highway. Accordingly, this edition includes an article on linear infrastructure projects in several countries where we are applying the BIM methodology. We also cover the Innova Award awarded to Ineco for the EOS project, a software product with unique features previously unavailable on the market.

Lastly, within the framework of our Agenda 2030 Plan, we highlight the importance of Ineco’s compliance programme, an example of our firm commitment to ethics that forms part of our Atenea Strategic Plan, guaranteeing respect for the law and trust amongst our stakeholders. Compliance is a culture that enables us to continue growing together to continuously improve our company, avoiding risks and producing legal security.

We begin by marking an historic anniversary: 50 years since the founding of Ineco (1968-2018), half a century during which we are proud to have had the opportunity to contribute to the structuring of the country through our involvement in the design and construction of major road and rail routes, port and airport development, urban transport and intermodal transport in Spain as a whole. It has unquestionably been a decisive period for the history of Spain and its infrastructure, and also for our growth and consolidation as a high-performance, flexible and technologically advanced public works engineering firm, which enables us to act as a trusted consultant in the eyes of our shareholders and as a valuable partner in the foreign market.

In addition to this celebration, I would also like to add the positive close to the year, promising portfolio prospects and our eager anticipation to support two of the Ministry of Public Works’ major projects this year, namely the Innovation Plan and the Internationalisation Plan, programmes that will begin in February and will certainly provide a great boost to our technological and innovative capacity and open up new opportunities for collaboration with Spanish partners in order to continue with our expansion abroad. Both initiatives have enabled us to join forces and work together with other companies and institutions in the Public Works Group, and they will also soon be joined by the Sustainability Plan.

The 50 years since the founding of Ineco have unquestionably been a decisive period for the history of Spain and its infrastructure

As unity makes strength, this issue also celebrates the connection of the high-speed lines in the north of Spain with those in the south and east, our work with Acciona to improve Costa Rica’s infrastructure and the joint effort of all of Europe to give a final push for the implementation of BIM.

We thank Tomás Elejalde, general manager of Metro de Medellín, for giving us a full interview. And lastly, I would like to mention the exemplary efforts of our technical staff to make the advancement of high-speed rail a reality, as our readers will be able to see in the reports on the Central High-Speed Line in Madrid, the extension of the Basque Y in Guipúzcoa and the traffic control works on the line between Makkah and Madinah, a project that has successfully passed the first test of the entire 450 kilometres.

The Bus Transport Strategic Plan for the Sultanate of Oman will provide the country with a public transport that is modern, efficient, sustainable and equipped with smart technology. The project involves a complete overhaul of both the supply –including new urban and interurban routes– and management of this means of transport in the Sultanate, where the use of private vehicles is heavy.

Throughout these pages we are privileged to have the perspective of Ahmed Al Bulushi, who is piloting the transition towards the future of the company Mwasalat, the national bus operator of Oman. We also address other works abroad, such as that carried out with Aena Internacional at the airport in the capital of Angola –4 de Fevereiro International Airport (Luanda)– the only international airport in the country for which Ineco conducted the operational safety study. Finally, we have dedicated an extensive report to the aeronautical study conducted for the expansion of the Port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan, where the installation of high-altitude cranes may interfere with international airport operations.

Internationalisation has irrefutably been a key event in recent years, a result of the experience and knowledge acquired over the course of decades developing Spanish infrastructure. In this regard, I am pleased to announce the contract signing with the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Works and Transport for management of the Transport Infrastructure Programme (PIT). It is a new opportunity to strengthen ties with a country that Ineco has collaborated with for years, and that we wish to continue supporting in its development.

We are privileged to have the perspective of Ahmed Al Bulushi, who is piloting the transition of the company Mwasalat towards the future

With Ineco’s new showroom –described on the inner pages– we strive to reflect the know-how of Spanish construction and engineering firms and their experience and impact around the world. The new Centre for Interpretation –which I invite our clients and friends to come visit– was recently inaugurated at our central headquarters in Madrid. It is a visit that I am sure will provide great insight into the scope of our works.

Finally, we complete this space with articles from our experts on highly-specialised projects such as variable gauge facilities –a technology pioneered by Spain–, water studies to protect high-speed lines or Big Data and transport. With the publication of these studies and works we hope to contribute to the dissemination of these new technologies in addition to engaging our readers.