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.

On 24 March 1999, at around 11 a.m., a refrigerated lorry carrying 9 tonnes of margarine and 12 tonnes of flour began to burn inside the Montblanc tunnel. About 2 kilometres from the Italian entrance, when the smoke was already thick, the driver stops the lorry in the central area of the tunnel, approximately 6 kilometres from the Italian entrance and 6 kilometres from the French entrance. Within seconds, the lorry explodes. Because it’s a bi-directional tunnel, a queue of vehicles forms on both sides of the burning vehicle. Alarms are activated and the tunnel is closed to traffic in both directions, but 25 vehicles with 39 people inside are already stopped or driving towards the burning lorry from the French side. The smoke is heading towards the French entrance. In barely half an hour, the smoke travelled the 6 km distance and exited through the French entrance, partly aided by the mechanical ventilation that was activated by workers on the Italian side.

Several rescue attempts are made, but all are unsuccessful. The fire lasts for 53 hours. Once the blaze had been put out, firefighters entered the tunnel and, sadly, found 39 victims. All had died in the first stages of the fire due to smoke inhalation.

Two years later, on 24 October 2001, there was a collision between two lorries inside the Gotthard Tunnel, which links Italy and Switzerland beneath the Alps. A few minutes after the collision, a large fire breaks out and temperatures inside the tunnel exceed 1,000°C. The fire burns for 20 hours and causes part of the tunnel to collapse. When rescue services enter, they find 11 victims.

The company has also carried out other work such as risk assessments for 42 tunnels located on the Trans-European Network

Safety requirements in Spain

Following these accidents, the European Commission decided to draft legislation on safety measures in road tunnels for all its Member States. Therefore, on 29 April 2004, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2004/54/EC on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the Trans-European Road Network.

Although this directive applies only to tunnels located on the Trans-European road network, when transposed into Spanish law by Royal Decree 635/2006, of 26 May, on minimum safety requirements in State road tunnels, no distinction was made between tunnels located on the Trans-European Network and other tunnels, in the belief that they should all have a similar level of safety. The royal decree also increases European safety requirements, so that all tunnels currently operating on Spanish roads are affected by the regulation in one way or another.

In 2016, the Directorate-General for Roads entrusted Ineco with the drafting of the first projects, which included the development of the Tunnel Adaptation Plan as the first assignment. There are a total of 354 tunnels on Spanish roads, of which 41 are on the toll road network and another three belong to the first-generation highways, all of which are managed under concession contracts. The remaining 310 belong to the network managed directly by the Directorate-General for Roads.

Following an analysis of the equipment of these 310 underground tunnels, it was concluded that 118 already meet the minimum safety requirements set out in the Royal Decree, and therefore the remaining 192 tunnels require attention. Of these, 90 are located on the Trans-European Network and 102 on other state roads.

Work on the 192 tunnels, which are being brought into line with European regulations, is expected to be completed in 2026. / PHOTO_INECO

Among other works, Ineco has drafted 22 adaptation projects, which include a wide variety of actions: road signalling, the installation of traffic lights, variable messaging panels, road surface improvement treatment, ventilation, upgrading of SCADA, CCTV and DAI, environmental control systems, fire protection systems, radio communications, public address systems, electrical installation, toxic liquid drainage, new emergency galleries, waterproofing and soundproofing improvements.

A further 21 projects were awarded in three lots to different consultancy firms. Ineco also provides support to the MITMA (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda) in the drafting of tender specifications, bid evaluation and the preparation and review of study orders and subsequent modifications. As the Adaptation Plan progresses, some projects are being sub-divided in order to accelerate the tendering of tunnels falling within the scope of European Directive 2004/54/EC (tunnels longer than 500 metres located in the Trans-European Network).

In April 2021, Ineco began a new project to bring the Xeresa and Mascarat tunnels into line with the royal decree. Of the 53 tunnel projects on the road network managed directly by the State, Ineco is in charge of 32, involving a total of 104 tunnels.

The company has also carried out other work over the years, such as risk assessments for 42 of these Trans-European Network infrastructures. The objective was to assess, in accordance with the Ministry’s Risk Analysis Methodology, whether these tunnels could be classified as safe, or whether any additional measures were required. Once the improvements have been implemented, all of these can now be considered safe, on the basis of this methodology.

Two new tasks have been added to Ineco’s activities in the Tunnel Plan, which is scheduled to last until November 2022. Firstly, the control and monitoring of some of the works and secondly, the drafting of a plan to improve energy efficiency in the lighting of tunnels on the state network.

The work to upgrade the 192 tunnels is expected to be completed in 2026, after a major investment of more than 500 million euros. Once completed, the time may be right for a new plan, with the aim of converting the tunnels into smart infrastructures, thanks to new technologies and materials, connecting them to future autonomous vehicles, which, together with 5G, will become a reality in the next few years.

Across the Member States of the European Union there are more than 20 national rail signalling and control systems, called ‘Class B systems’ by the Commission.  For long-distance railway transport, this means that whenever a train crosses from one country to another, the locomotive, driver and even the whole train may have to be changed. The solution is a common system that allows trains to operate with the same rail “language” on every network, something called ‘interoperability’. In 1989, this principle led to the birth of ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) with the support of the European Commission for its implementation as the sole system.

On behalf of the European Commission, during the period 2014-2021 Ineco has been coordinating the implementation of the system along nine European rail corridors, totalling 51,000 kilometres. It is a huge and complex industrial project that involves national and European rail regulators, operators, infrastructure managers, manufacturers, stakeholders along the corridors, and others, and requires the monitoring of ground-based and on-board systems.

PRINCIPAL NETWORK OF MAJOR EUROPEAN CORRIDORS. On behalf of the European Commission over the period 2014-2021, Ineco has been coordinating the implementation of the ERTMS system along nine European rail corridors, totalling 51,000 kilometres. / MAP_EUROPEAN COMMISSION

A specific study on on-board systems was carried out by the consulting firm PWC and Ineco and submitted to the European Commission in October by Ineco. The starting point is that widespread implementation of ERTMS is key to achieving the goal of railway interoperability that will make it possible to create a “single European railway area” similar to the “single European sky” for air transport. But adapting the infrastructure is not on its own enough; train fleets also have to be adapted to make the system efficient.

In April 2020, 12% (6,120 km) of European corridors were working with ETCS and 63% with GSM-R. Of the 15,682 kilometres due to come into service in 2023 under the European deployment plan for ERTMS, 5,906 kilometres (38%) have been contracted and 78% of what was planned to have been achieved by the end of 2019 has been completed. Almost all of the high-speed networks in Italy and Spain are monitored and protected by ERTMS. The system allows trains in commercial service to run at speeds of up to 350 km/h. Extensive parts of the networks in the Netherlands, Czechia and Belgium, as well as Switzerland outside the EU, have been outfitted. ETCS is also used to control freight trains arriving at Europe’s biggest port, Rotterdam. Europe’s longest tunnel under the Alps, the St. Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland, 57 kilometres long, has Level 2 ERTMS. The system has also been in service for a number of years in commuter services, such as those in Madrid (see IT46).

ERTMS-equipped trains will be key to the continued operation of international freight routes

The report found that, despite this progress, there is still much work to be done to achieve sufficient implementation of ERTMS to deliver a truly interoperable rail network: implementation continues to be patchy and most Member States have chosen not to do it now, but rather in the long term. And while there are rail companies, operators and manufacturers that have chosen to outfit their fleets with ERTMS, the report notes that, in most cases, this is only done when required due to the characteristics of the network, because of the technical, financial and economic risks that must be assumed. Fewer than 4,000 trains have been equipped with the system in Europe. Over the last five years, approximately 5,000 new vehicles have been acquired in Europe. However, only 900 of those new vehicles are equipped with ERTMS. The lack of equipped vehicles consequently stops rail infrastructure operators from deriving the maximum benefit from the ERTMS system that has already been deployed.

The principal aim of the study is therefore to assess the impact of further trackside deployment of ERTMS on operators, mainly for international freight transport. In particular, the study assesses the efficiency of the installation of ERTMS to significantly expand the routes available to locomotives, and efficiency in terms of the simplification of signalling equipment in vehicles.

To do that, three major European networks with high volumes of international freight traffic and extensive ERTMS installation were selected: Network 1, made up of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, western Germany, eastern France, Switzerland and north-western Italy; Network 2, made up of north-eastern Italy, Austria, western Hungary, Slovenia and southern Germany; and Network 3, which encompasses north-eastern Germany, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria (Vienna node only).

Comparison of full ERTMS structure and Class B systems. / IMAGE_INECO

Principal conclusions

From the point of view of ERTMS implementation, the report confirms that over the next few years, significant use of ERTMS in rail operations will be achieved. In Network 1, the number of kilometres not equipped with ERTMS will fall from 70% in 2020 to just 15% in 2025.

From the point of view of infrastructure managers, the report recommends that national deployment strategies include the considerations that would enable them to prioritise specific sections. That prioritisation would have an enormous impact on European freight operators. For example, in 2025 a locomotive equipped with ERTMS alone will be able to cover the distance between the port of Rotterdam and northern Italy, more than 1,000 kilometres, if ERTMS deployment on just 75 kilometres of the route can be sped up.

Accelerated, coordinated deployment of ERTMS can generate direct benefits on all the networks studied

From the point of view of rail companies, the report confirms that over the next few years, ERTMS could substitute Class B systems in the fleet, rather than being an additional system. In addition, to cover international freight transport, the report concludes that all new locomotives should be equipped with ERTMS and recommends consideration of ERTMS installation in the existing fleet. ERTMS-equipped trains will be key to the continued operation of international freight routes. The issue of connectivity is common to the three networks assessed, albeit to varying degrees. The lack of ERTMS-equipped locomotives would lead to the loss of 100% of the international routes in Network 2 by 2030, 86% on Network 1 and 50% on Network 3.

Although there are good reasons to support strategies for on-board implementation of ERTMS, a transition period with one or two Class B systems alongside ERTMS is inevitable. Based on its analysis of international traffic as well as the deployment and the characteristics of the system, the report concludes that there is no single Class B system that can be considered the most effective one to work alongside ERTMS on the whole European fleet. It is clear that each operator needs its own individual strategy, depending mainly on the country it is based in.

For the purposes of the study, three major European networks with high volumes of international freight traffic and extensive installation of ERTMS were selected. In the images, two maps of Network 2 and 3; this last encompasses north-eastern Germany, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria (Vienna node only). / MAPS_INECO

To implement those strategies, they need to be supported by technical analyses of the principal risks that the deployment of ERTMS poses to the fleet. The report focuses on a review of national technical rules and the interface between ERTMS and Class B.

The main recommendations to mitigate the risks posed by those aspects of the systems to deployment include:

• Encourage the use and stability of existing Class B products when different providers have relevant solutions. This allows effort and resources to be concentrated on the deployment of ERTMS, creating efficiencies across Europe, rather than on further developing Class B. Also, further development of Class B using the standard interface (or STM) does not guarantee ready connectivity with ERTMS systems.
• To grow international traffic, dual-standard solutions should not be allowed for Class B if there is no available alternative.
• Broaden transparency requirements in information concerning national technical rules for all parties involved, including the Member States and infrastructure managers, as well as providers and rail companies. This would enable Europe-wide mechanisms to be updated and improved to avoid the adoption of unexpected national rules that could have significant effects on interoperability in international transport.

The report contains a review of different scenarios for each of the selected networks, to assess the potential financial effects of alternative ERTMS implementation strategies on infrastructure managers and international rail freight businesses. This analysis, comparing cumulative long-term (2020-2055) cash flows in three possible scenarios, confirms that coordinated and accelerated deployment of ERTMS could bring direct benefits –for infrastructure managers and for rail companies– in each of the three networks in the study.

What is a ERTMS?

ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System), and its control and protection subsystem, ETCS (European Train Control System), is an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system that provides a high level of safety.

It consists of the exchange of information between trains and infrastructure and is based on on-board signalling and continuous speed monitoring. It can be deployed on different levels of application, which differ in the way that the information is transmitted: burst transmission from track to train for Level 1 and continuous two-way transmission in Levels 2 and 3.

It is made up of two basic subsystems, one on-board and the other trackside, that are connected via interoperable channels. The on-board ETCS equipment is the European Vital Computer (EVC) and the trackside ETCS equipment is essentially the groups of Eurobalises and LEU (Lineside Electronic Unit), associated with Level 1 communications, and the Radio Block Centre (RBC), associated with Level 2.

ERTMS can also make use of GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications–Railway), which allows data and voice transmission between the driver and control centre.

The implementation of ERTMS brings with it different improvements in railway operations, such as interoperability of different types of train in different infrastructures and increased safety and capacity. This capacity is calculated based on the number of trains with established characteristics that can travel on a railway line or network during a certain period of time. In addition, the benefit of ERTMS in railway digitisation programmes has been demonstrated through its deployment in the modernisation processes of numerous railway networks at international level.

The European Commission has awarded Ineco the contract to undertake a study entitled Support to the European Commission on the deployment of ERTMS on Core and Comprehensive Networks: On-Board and Infrastructure deployment strategies. Ineco is heading up this job in conjunction with the consulting firm PWC with the aim of facilitating the deployment of the ERTMS system in different European fleets. To carry it out, three specific networks will be identified and described from an operator’s perspective, and this will enable a commercial decision to be made with regard to investing in ERTMS trains, taking into account all of the technical aspects that this entails.

The construction sector is strategically important for European economies in terms of production and job creation, accounting for 9% of GDP and employing more than 18 million people. It is an important engine of economic growth and an activity in which three million companies are engaged, most of which are SMEs.

It is, however, a sector that lags behind other industries in terms of digitisation and productivity rates. Several European reports have identified that the root causes of this situation are an insufficient level of collaboration between agents involved in the process, a low level of investment in R&D, and improvable information management.

The digitisation of the construction sector represents a unique opportunity to confront the significant structural challenges that still need to be addressed by taking advantage of the widespread availability of best practices developed in other industrial sectors, new engineering tools, digital workflows and technological skills for achieving higher productivity and creating a more efficient construction sector.

The introduction of the BIM methodology in the construction sector represents a drive towards its digitisation. The wider use of technology, digital processes and automation undoubtedly helps to greatly improve our economic, social and environmental future.

This initiative, promoted by the European Commission, aims to encourage the construction sector to improve its productivity and embrace new technologies through digital transformation, an aspect in which this sector is lagging far behind: 95% of construction jobs in Europe are in small or medium-sized companies, and productivity has barely grown 1% in the last 20 years. EU BIM calculates that the implementation of this methodology will reduce the overall costs of the construction sector by between 10 and 20%, and also produce immeasurable social and environmental benefits.

The European Commission seeks to encourage the construction sector to improve its productivity and embrace new technologies through digital transformation

The EU BIM Task Group is made up of representatives from more than 20 European public authorities and brings together the collective experience of policy makers, managers of public assets and infrastructure operators in the field. It therefore has a significant base of knowledge about the legislation, practices and customs of many countries which, although different, have similar problems in common.

The Manual, with collaboration by Ineco engineers Jorge Torrico and Elena Puente, representing Spain’s Ministry of Public Works, includes case studies and examples of the evolution of BIM implementation in different European countries and aims to respond to the following questions:

• Why have other European governments adopted measures to support and encourage the adoption of the BIM methodology?
• What benefits can be expected?
• How can governments and clients belonging to the public sector offer leadership and work hand in hand with industry?
• Why is public leadership and harmonisation so important at European level?
• What defines the BIM methodology at European level?

The document is not intended as a guide for the management of the BIM methodology, but rather to offer a strategic and comprehensive overview of the steps to be taken to implement it by examining real experiences in recent years.

Aware of the role played by public authorities and European institutions in the implementation of this technological transformation aimed at improving the competitiveness of their industries, some governments are already taking the first steps to implement this methodology as a requirement in their tendering processes, a strategy that will result in significant improvement in services and cost savings in public works. This is the case in the United Kingdom since 2016 and France as of 2017, and it will be applied in Spain by 2019.

The manual includes case studies and examples of how BIM implementation evolved in different European countries

However, differences in the definition and practical application of BIM in each country can create obstacles and make the work of construction and engineering firms that operate in multiple markets even more difficult. Before this happens, Europe is seeking to agree on a common framework consisting of best practices and international standards accepted by both public institutions and the private engineering and construction sector. This is why, since February 2016, EU BIM has been working on the standardisation of BIM in Europe. Its objective in these two years has been to convey the benefits of this methodology in order to achieve –along with the support of private industry– digital transformation in the European public construction sector.

EU BIM TASK GROUP. Consisting of representatives from more than 20 European public authorities.

Communication, key to the implementation of BIM

In order to achieve a common regulatory and operational framework, public authorities and private industry have initiated an ongoing dialogue that seeks to bring up to date, within a few years, a sector that is rooted in almost artisanal methods. The case studies from different countries examined in the EU BIM Manual are a preamble to the importance that information exchange, standardisation and digitisation will have over the coming years for the construction sector, which is unquestionably on the threshold of a profound and historic transformation. It is just a matter of time.

In Estonia, for example, the Ministry of the Economy’s leadership in the initiative since 2014 and its commitment to the medium and long term has generated confidence in the sector and provided a clear outlook. The level of communication and commitment of the Swedish government has also been crucial in generating this confidence in the sector: the country’s BIM Alliance Sweden was created in 2014 with 170 representatives from all public and private construction organisations, and in 2017,  launched a strategic innovation programme called Smart Built Environment (SBE).

In 2015, Germany began designing a roadmap for digitisation in construction, an effort in which professionals from different areas have been involved and which will be implemented as of 2020. The Manual highlights the difficulty of communicating a strategic plan to a sector that employs six million people in Germany and making them understand how important it is for them. All in all, the reaction has been very positive.

The government of the United Kingdom, one of the most proactive, as part of its BIM implementation strategy, provided its suppliers with a reasonable time for adaptation: five years to bring themselves up to date from 2011. The United Kingdom also established a new legal framework within which to operate, and keeps the sector continuously informed through the government’s official Internet pages. This is also the case in France, which has set up a complete website to provide in-depth information about its PTNB (Plan Transition Numérique dans le Bâtiment), promoting a common work system. Every six months, the website publishes a survey or barometer that indicates how BIM is perceived by the construction sector in France. In the most recent survey, published in April, 80% of respondents said that they did not have enough information about BIM; nonetheless, it was used by 11% of professionals, in particular those working in new building construction (75%) and renovation (45%).

CONSTRUCTION. The construction sector is an activity in which three million companies are engaged making it an important engine of economic growth.

In Spain, responsibility for the initiative falls to the Ministry of Public Works, which created the es.BIM Commission in 2015. Among its different actions, the Commission has created the www.esbim.es website, which offers the possibility for the private sector to share the work it has carried out using this methodology in order to generate interest and motivation. The website also features a blog available to external collaborators, which acts as a forum for the exchange of opinions, and it published the results of the first survey for professionals carried out in the last quarter of 2016. At the time of the writing this article, the second edition is open to verify the progress made, both in terms of knowledge and the use of the BIM methodology in Spain.

In addition, since September 2017, the es.BIM Observatory for public tenders has been active with the aim of monitoring the evolution of the penetration of BIM in public tendering on a quarterly basis, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus far, two reports have been published and have made it possible to draw very significant conclusions.

Technology evolves at high speed and we just need to use it and incorporate it into our processes. Nowadays, thanks to BIM, it is possible to generate and manage all of a project’s digital information through the formation of information models throughout the life cycle of a construction. It is, therefore, a method that provides total control of a building or civil works project from the design phase to final maintenance, facilitating real-time monitoring, decision-making and changes or corrections to plans before construction. It generates greater cost savings than current methods. What is needed to implement it? ‘Complex, useful for my profession and expensive’ is how the new technology was described in the last survey conducted in France. However, experts do maintain that the necessary training and technical means do not represent an insurmountable obstacle and that greater global adoption will be achieved through ongoing learning.

95% of construction jobs in Europe are in small or medium-sized companies, and productivity has barely grown 1% in the last 20 years

Ineco began using the BIM methodology in 2010 for its participation in several international projects, given its ease of use in collaborative working environments –with different teams separated by large distances– with a single centralised design. The company currently uses the BIM methodology in both airport and rail projects in Spain and abroad.

Its role in the EU BIM Task Group, representing the Ministry of Public Works, has been highly active and involves participation in its management committee together with Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, Estonia, Sweden, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. From the beginning, the need to look for common lines with Europe was perceived in order to ensure, as much as possible, a single methodology based on European standards.

The Danish public company Banedanmark (BDK) has commissioned Ineco to complete the operating scenarios in an ambitious renovation programme for the railway signalling of the country. The project has been awarded to Ineco, in collaboration with CEDEX, and includes drafting specifications of the operational trials for the service commencement of the ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) subsystem.

It also includes drafting work specifications for the two pilot lines completed by the multinationals Alston and Thales for Banedanmark. The contract was awarded to Ineco on account of its experience in ERTMS, at a national level as well as in the European works in monitoring the interoperability for the ERA (European Railway Agency) and the European Commission.

December 2016 saw the completion of the first SESAR research and development programme, with a total of 63 Air Traffic Management (ATM) solutions, all with a shared goal: increasing the number of air operations, increasing safety, and reducing the costs and environmental impact associated to each flight, all priority issues for the EU. This was possible thanks to the combined work of airport managers, air navigation service providers, the aviation industry and airspace users. This was a fruitful collaboration as part of the company SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU), a public–private partnership bringing together all Air Traffic Management (ATM) R&D initiatives in Europe. Founded in 2007, the company was created by the European Commission (EC) and Eurocontrol to coordinate the growing number of partners and to manage financial and technical resources, with a view to making the Single European Sky project a reality.

According to statements by the EC, SJU has met its expectations. The parties responsible for technological development for the future European Air Traffic Management system presented a total of 63 solutions at the end of 2016, defining standards, operating procedures, technology and pre-industrial components. These solutions were developed with a clear focus on subsequent deployment and implementation.

ENAIRE’S leadership

Together with its shareholder ENAIRE (formerly Aena), Ineco began participating in 2000 in the area of ATM in European R&D Framework Programmes, which were co-financed by the European Commission and ultimately replaced by SESAR JU to unite efforts, to avoid the duplication of work and to promote the deployment and implementation of the different developments. Since the development phase got underway in 2008, ENAIRE has participated in 95 projects (the programme includes over 300), taking a leading role in 16 of these. Ineco’s contribution to SESAR began in December 2010, with the company ultimately participating in 54 projects. Participation in SESAR has allowed us to keep up to date with the evolution of ATM technology and operations, putting this experience at the service of our clients and shareholders. Regarding this, it should also be highlighted that Ineco, jointly with ENAIRE, led WP6 Airport Operations, diferent kind of operational projects and also Operational Focus Area(OFA) in which projects were grouped assessing the same concept. The company also contributed in the development of operational concepts in the Network, Route, TMA and airport areas and in the coordination and execution of validations (both in fast and in real time) and the subsequent analysis of indicators from different perspectives (for example operations, economics, environment, safety and human factors).

Ineco experts also developed Touch It!, a tablet application enabling measurement of the workload of any human actor in their professional setting, whether this be aeronautics or not.

PLANNED OBJECTIVES. The hexagon in the graph above shows SESAR’s six proposed performance areas for measuring the success of the works carried out. The blue hexagon shows SESAR‘s initial targets, with the green one showing the high level of achievement reached by 2015, with a year still remaining for development.

SESAR deployment phase

In order to truly meet the objectives set, conceptual development of solutions is not sufficient. The industry must put these into production, at the same time deploying or implementing them. Similar initiatives in the past have not achieved this. However, there is now a body (the SESAR Deployment Manager) and a budget earmarked for making this happen.

The SESAR deployment phase guides and ensures the deployment of the developed solutions in a coordinated way within the European Union. As part of this, the EC published a regulation in 2014 called the Pilot Common Project, defining the first large-scale actions to be carried out in order that the technologies presented be available and put into operation. This is a mandatory regulation which all providers must put into effect in accordance with the implementation phases. This level of integration and information will also involve on-board equipment, manufacturers, flight personnel, controllers, airlines and the aeronautical industry as a whole.

What are the benefits? In addition to advances in terms of the safety of air operations and reducing fuel consumption, the advantages include interoperability and reduced operating costs. But above all, it is also a political achievement, a shared experience which confirms the movement towards a more united, collaborative Europe, gradually finding supranational systems to bridge the historical borders fragmenting and hindering the dream of a unified territory.

PRESENTATION OF PROJECTS. Form left to right: aeronautical engineers Ester Martín, José Manuel Rísquez and Laura Serrano, who attended the SESAR Showcase event on behalf on Ineco and representing ENAIRE. The event was held in Amsterdam on 30 June and featured presentations on the 63 solutions developed.

SESAR 2020: Second phase of development

Starting in October 2016, a second phase of development, SESAR 2020, is following suit, not only in launching the development of new solutions but also in completing the development of those that began in the first phase. This new programme presents a series of R&D projects, from early conceptual ideas to validation in operational settings for deployment. These projects are grouped into three large areas:

• Exploratory research, the most innovative part of SESAR, which is subject to open calls for projects.
• Industrial Research & Validation, where concepts offering significant ATM benefits are refined and validated. Only SJU partners and associate companies can participate.
• Very Large Demonstrations: projects included in the step prior to industrialisation and/or production, which are oriented towards validated concepts that require European or global coordination.

In the first development phase, there was a separation between operational projects and systems projects. This risk disappears in SESAR 2020, as each project includes a team of both operational and systems experts, with both groups being involved in the entire life cycle and development of the project: concept, requirements, validation, verification, etc. In addition, certain processes have been elaborated to ensure greater involvement from airlines, which are one of the most important actors in the world of ATM as they will be the users of the future ATM system developed by SESAR.

The third meeting of the BIM (Building Information Modelling) Commission, which was held in February, was presided over by Mario Garcés, subsecretary of Public Works, and was participated in by Jesús Silva, president of Ineco, who presented the programme for 2016. Ineco supports the Ministry of Public Works in this Commission, which seeks to drive forward the implementation of the BIM methodology in Spain in which representatives of the public and private sector participate.

This initiative wants to promote the use of this methodology throughout infrastructure life cycles, to rise awareness among public administrations about the establishment of BIM requirements in infrastructure tenders, to establish a regulation schedule, to develop national standards and to boost training in Spain. In the session the beginning of activities of the EU BIM Task Group in Brussels were also analysed. This group, co-financed by the European Commission, includes representatives from public administrations of 14 Member States.

On the picture, from left to right, Jorge Torrico, Ineco Project subdirector, Jesús Silva, president of Ineco, and Mario Garcés, subsecretary of Public Works.