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.

Last November, Minister of Public Works, Íñigo de la Serna, presented the Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan 2017-2020, whose aim is to integrate and coordinate all of the innovation activities of the companies and institutions involved in the Public Works Group. With a planned investment of 50 million euros over a period of three years, the Plan starts in February 2018 with the launch of cross-cutting initiatives and projects throughout the Group so that ‘it will function as a collaborative group working within a network’, explained the minister.

Through the Plan, the Public Works Group is taking a major step forward in line with the European Commission’s H2020 programme, a financial instrument that seeks to ensure competitiveness through research and innovation. At the national level, the Plan is part of the government’s strategy on innovation, in which the Digital Agenda for Spain and the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation play particularly significant roles.

Thanks to the National Smart Cities Plan developed by the State Secretary for the Information Society and Digital Agenda (SESIAD) in collaboration with Ineco, Spain is a pioneer in the development of smart cities, having established a number of guidelines on platform interoperability that have become an international benchmark. The platform ecosystem proposed in the Innovation Plan follows these guidelines, ensuring that the different transport initiatives complement and can be integrated into the advances made in smart cities. The result is a common strategy based on a solid model.

The Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan also uses BIM (Building Information Modelling) as a cross-cutting element for all of the initiatives, given the strategic role that it needs to play in the future of Spanish innovation (see report).

A cutting-edge transport system

Transport plays a key role in the overall development of societies and their economies. The way in which people and goods move through an area largely defines its social, economic and environmental fabric, which is why actions in transport and infrastructure are a vital part of any basic strategy in the ongoing process of expansion and modernisation of societies.

For this reason, the Plan is committed to putting technology at the service of the citizen, using innovation to make advances in safety, accessibility and sustainability. These advances need to be accompanied by greater economic and social profitability through an increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of public and private investment.

The Innovation Plan is structured around four main dimensions to achieve these objectives: digitisation, Internet of the future, intermodality and energy transformation. Supported by these dimensions, the initiatives proposed in the Plan represent a great boost to the consolidation of a safer, more sustainable and accessible cutting-edge transport system, which will keep Spain at the forefront of innovation in transport.

The aim of the plan is to put technology at the service of the citizen, using innovation to make progress in safety, accessibility and sustainability, advances that need to be accompanied by greater economic and social profitability through an increase in effectiveness and efficiency in public and private investment

Four major cornerstones and 70 initiatives underway

Drafted by Ineco, the Innovation Plan included participation by the heads of Adif, Aena, ENAIRE, CRIDA, Spanish Port System and Renfe. The opinions of other institutions, such as the Spanish Rail Research Laboratory (CEDEX), Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Agency (SASEMAR), the Ministry of Public Works and various private entities, were also taken into account. Four strategic cornerstones have been identified in the Plan: user experience; smart platforms; smart routes; and energy efficiency and sustainability. These cornerstones are structured in turn into 22 strategic lines, which have materialised into 70 initiatives.

User Experience is aimed at personalising the offering according to user preferences, providing them with products and services on demand. To that end, the concept of ‘Mobility as a Service’ and, in general, public-private collaboration models will be promoted. Several other initiatives will focus on the elimination of barriers, with the development and implementation of new booking, payment and validation systems focused on cybersecurity and fraud reduction.

Big Data will be the technological foundation that will enable personalisation of services and improved user experience.

The second cornerstone, Smart Platforms, is designed as a cross-cutting element that provides technological support to all of the initiatives in the Innovation Plan. Through these Platforms, information is collected and processed by the companies in the Public Works Group, improving efficiency, quality and security of the services offered.

The proposed platform ecosystem covers all modes of transport and is integrated with city platforms. The application of the BIM methodology in stations, airports and ports, and the promotion of the Single European Sky will play a special role in this ecosystem, which will also consider the inclusion of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Smart Routes are aimed at the digitisation of roads and railways, with the development of a framework for the implementation of connected and autonomous vehicles. One of the fundamental aspects will be the standardisation and regulation of vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure communications.

In addition, modelling and forecasting systems based on automatic learning and data science will be developed to enable smart transport planning and management. Dynamic traffic control, early recognition of congestion conditions on roads and dynamic driving management are some examples of the application of these developments.

The fourth cornerstone of the plan, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability, focuses on achieving transformation towards a sustainable and energy-efficient transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rationalise the use of fossil fuels and facilitate the switch to new transport solutions. This line includes initiatives that promote the use of renewable energy generation systems, use of surplus energy for self-consumption or feeding back into the grid, promotion of electric vehicles and other vehicles with alternative energies in transport networks, among others. All of these measures seek to adapt transport elements and direct them towards more sustainable and effective models in order to enable Spain to position itself as a benchmark in the international sector.

Facilitating open innovation and encouraging start-up entrepreneurship through synergies with companies in the Public Works Group is also part of the initiatives of this fourth cornerstone.

The Plan aims to set up an innovative network that integrates and connects all sectors of society, encouraging investment in innovation by large companies and SMEs and actively involving universities, technology centres and entrepreneurs. Within this line, the creation of an ‘Innovation Rail Hub’ seeks to launch collaborative R&D projects that promote railway technology on an international scale.

ILLUSTRATION_JAVIER JUBERA

Experts in public transport innovation

To draft the Plan, Ineco’s Department of Cooperation and Innovation collaborated with a team of experts in innovation from the companies and institutions in the Public Works Group. Adif, Aena, ENAIRE, CRIDA, Spanish Port System and Renfe, together with other institutions such as Cedex and SASEMAR, worked with Ineco on the drafting of a common project:  “We set out a road map –says Rocío Viñas, Ineco’s deputy general director of Cooperation and Innovation– for the next three years with a strategy based on digitisation, the Internet of the future, intermodality and energy transformation.” For Rocío Viñas, analysis of the current situation of innovation projects “reflected the importance not only of sharing knowledge and creating synergies in the Public Works Group, but also of reinforcing collaboration with universities, startups and other companies, fostering and promoting our innovative culture inside and outside the EU.”

According to Javier Rodríguez Barea, Renfe’s manager of Transformation and Digital Innovation, the interesting aspect about this project is that “citizens are at the centre of the Innovation Plan, which acts a great prescriber of a new, more personalised, door-to-door mobility service in an interconnected and smart world, where technology and digitisation are put at the service of the companies in the Public Works Group in order to transform our value proposition towards society and improve user experience in our services.”

For Antonio Berrios, deputy director of Strategic Innovation at Adif, “one of the great contributions and challenges of this Innovation Plan is its cross-cutting vision within the Public Works Group, involving all companies making a technological leap to facilitate solutions that improve the capabilities of all of the modes of transport that travellers and goods units can use in their door-to-door mobility process.”

Along this same line, Juan Puertas Cabot, head of Aena’s Quality, Excellence and Innovation Division, adds that “effective innovation is always orientated towards known customers. The plan has combined the vision of the customer as a passenger on all modes of transport and as a citizen with their needs and expectations. This global vision is necessary to focus on effective innovation in global transport.” Juan Puertas points out that instead of highlighting a single initiative, he would stress the importance of including energy efficiency and sustainability as one of the main cornerstones: “It links with the whole strategy of the Plan, which puts society as a whole at the centre. I believe that a company of the future must necessarily be responsible and innovation is an essential tool to incorporate sustainability into transport processes.” In the case of Aena, within the framework of the Plan, the company is implementing the “digital transformation of the relationship with the passenger, where not only the necessary economic return is taken into account but also a focus on improvement of the passenger experience in the different steps of a customer’s journey at an airport. The firm commitment to this project has been reflected in 15 digital innovation initiatives that will be implemented during the next year.”

Thanks to ICT, transport services can be better designed and managed, addressing the real needs of citizens and interacting with them in real time and within an integrated and sustainable transport system that improves its economic and social profitability

Of the 70 initiatives, Jose Damián López, head of the Infrastructure Technology Department of the Spanish Port System, highlights the Intermodality without barriers (E3L4-2) initiative, because the project “will enable the planning and optimisation of services and infrastructures dedicated to intermodal transport, as well as simplifying administrative procedures through centralisation in the Goods Platform, providing one-stop services and monitoring the status of goods at the same time.” For José Damián López, the Plan also develops –in the field of R&D and innovation– the necessary relationships of trust between the companies in the Public Works Group, diversifying the risks and benefits associated with innovation, and increases “the value of expected results in all of the initiatives by adding to them the talent, knowledge and experience accumulated by the different organisations.”

Fernando Fernández Martín, head of ENAIRE’s European Convergence Division and responsible for the Innovation Plan, points out that it is difficult to choose from among the initiatives included in the Plan. While the Smart ATM initiative is key for ENAIRE (it addresses the evolution of the Spanish Air Traffic Management System to adapt it to the Single European Sky initiative), it would be unfair not to mention the Platform for the management of unmanned aerial vehicle traffic, because it faces the challenge posed by the arrival of unmanned aerial vehicles in our environment, on the one hand to encourage the development of new business models, while preventing this type of vehicle from posing risks for manned aircraft or citizens.

For José Miguel de Pablo, director of CRIDA⁽¹⁾, the Ministry’s Innovation Plan “will enable the promotion and consolidation of the incipient implementation of Big Data techniques at the service of ENAIRE, therefore, improving the efficiency of aerial navigation services. The computing power that is currently available and the increasing degree of maturity of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Machine Learning offer an alternative to the use of conventional techniques, allowing them to overcome their limitations.” The Plan, he adds, “opens up a new horizon of possibilities that can range from improvements in available information and reliability and streamlining of decision making to the automation of processes through the development of intelligent predictive models. And all with one sole purpose: to improve the service provided to the passenger.”

⁽¹⁾ CRIDA is the ATM R&D+innovation Reference Centre, A.I.E. formed by ENAIRE,  (66.66%), Ineco (16.67%) and the Polytechnic University  of Madrid (16.67 %).

This project, approved by the Ministry of Public Works in March 2015, is very important for Spain’s rail network. When completed, the high-speed lines of the north, south and south east of the Iberian Peninsula will be connected by a 6.8 kilometre-long tunnel (7.7 kilometres including the tunnel bypass). The use of the international track gauge on the line will shorten travel times by 30 minutes by precluding the need for trains to pass through gauge changers. When the future Atocha through-station is built, Madrid’s two high-speed stations will be connected.

The quadrupling of the track will increase the capacity of the railway infrastructure between Puerta de Atocha station and Torrejón de Velasco, where trains are diverted to the east or south of the Iberian Peninsula. The commissioning of these two new sections, in addition to the two existing ones, will alleviate the congestion on the saturated access lines to Atocha and speed up and facilitate greater density of rail traffic, thereby benefiting the Levante and Andalusia high-speed corridors, as well as removing the need for the existing north-south routes (such as A Coruña-Alicante, Alicante-Gijón, Alicante-Santander, etc.) to pass through several gauge changers.

Track diagram of the new HSL Centre between Atocha and Chamartín (temporary and future arrangement).

OUTFITTING THE HS LINE

The work that the company Adif Alta Velocidad is currently completing includes track assembly, electrification and installation of safety and communications equipment, activities on which Ineco is collaborating by providing consulting services and technical assistance work for monitoring and supervision.

In terms of track assembly, the stretch is divided into two sub-sections: Chamartín-Atocha (8.21 kilometres), which consists entirely of slab track except for a small section on ballast in the transition area from double track to single track at the fork leading to the future through-station and provisional tunnel, and Atocha-Torrejón de Velasco (27.65 kilometres), where the track has been installed on ballast. The project also includes work on Chamartín station, where a railway yard with the UIC international gauge has been built at its southern end.

Regarding the connection of the Southern and Levante high-speed lines at Torrejón de Velasco, two parking tracks, each about 200 metres long, had to be adapted to high-speed line parameters.

THE DEEP TUNNEL THAT PASSES UNDER THE CAPITAL

The tunnel between the Madrid-Puerta de Atocha and Madrid-Chamartín stations is an essential infrastructure for the development of an international-gauge network in Spain, as it allows the interconnection of the high-speed lines that pass through Madrid, facilitating the interoperability of high-speed trains.

Atocha-Chamartín tunnel (Madrid). / PHOTO_ELVIRA VILA

According to Adif, the tunnel, whose boring was completed on 11 February 2011, improves the operating model of the two Madrid stations converting them from a terminal configuration to through-stations. Commissioning of the tunnel will also facilitate high-speed train access to the Fuencarral railway workshops (in Chamartín) and Cerro Negro workshops (next to Atocha) for maintenance. Once the Atocha through-station is built, Madrid will have the luxury of having its high-speed stations connected, a situation that is still pending in other major European cities. Operators will be able to choose between Chamartín or Atocha stations for their high-speed train arrivals and departures to and from the capital.

With a length of 6.8 kilometres, the tunnel, whose boring began in 2010, runs under the city’s main arteries and emblematic monuments and buildings such as the Puerta de Alcalá and the Archaeological Museum. Equipped with some of the most modern railway technology available  in terms of safety and protection systems, it boasts a slab track with embedded rail, rigid overhead catenary, nine emergency exits and signalling and communication systems with a high level of safety. From the very start, Ineco participated by providing Adif with project and environmental management, geotechnical consulting, building inspection and acoustic monitoring services. Ineco was later responsible for technical assistance on track assembly, electrification and signalling.

Nine emergency exits

Constructed at a depth of about 40 metres, the tunnel features nine emergency exits, one per kilometre: three along Serrano and the others at Atocha, Calle Espalter, Plaza de la República Argentina and Calle Hiedra, Calle Alberto Alcocer and Calle Concha Espina. In the image, the emergency exit leading to Calle Espalter.

A UNIQUE TECHNICAL BUILDING

The building has fibre-reinforced concrete panels and a tubular steel substructure, instead of the usual concrete walls, making it possible to optimize the installation of the façade insulation.

Chamartín technical building. / PHOTO_ELVIRA VILA

The technical building at Chamartín station on the Madrid-Chamartín-Torrejón de Velasco section has two floors to house equipment for services (power, batteries, telecommunications and signalling) as well as offices, storage areas, access roads and a platform for loading and unloading. The Siemens-Thales Joint Venture constructed the building from a project drafted by Ineco, which also provided site management with technical assistance.

In spite of the industrial nature of this type of technical building, an appearance that fit better with the urban environment was sought and achieved thanks to the choice of prefabricated GRC concrete panels (fibre-reinforced concrete), which required minimal thickness, with stiffness provided by the tubular steel substructure. The space gained was used to install the insulation, which is continuous across the façade, minimising the number of thermal bridges. This prefabricated panel system makes it possible to have many different tones, textures and designs. These details make these walls different from typical concrete infrastructure walls and make them resemble prefabricated architectural finishes used in urban construction.

WATCH THE CALCULATIONS

The commissioning of the section of high-speed line between Madrid-Puerta de Atocha station and Torrejón de Velasco, slated for 2018, required the inspection of 34 new structures with a total length of 3.1 kilometres, a job carried out by Ineco for Adif.

Last summer, Ineco began carrying out load tests and inspections on all of the structures of the section between Atocha and Torrejón de Velasco of the new Levante rail access, which passes through the southern part of Madrid and the towns of Villaverde, Getafe, Pinto and Torrejón de Velasco. In total, the new tracks have 34 structures and more than 2.5 kilometres of viaducts. The work to be carried out on bridges, pergolas and viaducts in this type of contract includes full verification of the condition of the structures, consisting of formulating inventories, preliminary inspections, bridge instrumentation, carrying out load tests, as well as calculating the bridge behaviour during testing, and ending with the main inspection of each structure and completion of A1 (communication of inspections to the register of railway bridge inspections) and A2 (load test report) procedures. All of this is collected and published in the final load-test report. This ensures compliance with the mandatory Instruction on Railway Bridge Technical Inspections (ITPF-05), which regulates both inspections and load tests carried out on newly constructed bridges, as is the case, and even on service bridges.

Its most significant infrastructure –in addition to the Chamartín-Atocha tunnel mentioned above– include the provisional tunnel under Atocha station, 879 metres long and consisting of single track, the Perales cut-and-cover tunnel (390 m), and the viaducts over Calle Comercio and the C-5 commuter rail line (127 m), the Abroñigal viaduct (149 m), the Santa Catalina viaduct (429 m over the M-40, and a total of 649 m), the 1.1 viaduct over the Madrid-Levante HSL, Seville branch (1,079 m) and the pergola over the Madrid-Seville HSL (93 m).

THREE UNIQUE METAL VIADUCTS

Of the 34 new structures, three unique viaducts stand out for their location, design and construction process:

• Comercio street viaduct
  This is a 129.5 metre-long bridge with steel structure and auxiliary elements weighing 1,130,000 kg over Calle Comercio and the C-5 commuter rail line (Móstoles-Humanes). Its highly complex construction is due to the viaduct structure with a variable radius of curvature. The structure consists of two metal lateral lattices on both sides of the railway platform, connected every 3.50 m by metal beams on which the concrete deck rests. It has a total length of 129.5 m, distributed over 4 continuous spans. The viaduct construction was executed in such a way as to minimize the disruption of public roads and rail traffic.
  

  Comercio street viaduct (Madrid).

• Abroñigal viaduct
  The Abroñigal viaduct is located near Atocha station, next to the C-4 commuter rail line. It covers a length of 144.5 metres and is built with three spans on a large metal structure with reinforced box-girder elements and welded joints, forming a thick sail-shaped lattice, with a reinforced concrete deck on floor slabs, joined to metal girders by metal connectors. The track layout is straight but eccentric towards the left-hand side. The bridge can only be accessed through abutment 1 (Atocha side), fitted between the tracks on the left-hand side and the embankment towards Calle Embajadores. The access tracks to Adif’s Entrevías workshop and the road tunnel from Calle Embajadores to the same workshop run beneath it. This was a conditioning factor for both the construction as well as the load test and the inspection.
  

  Abroñigal viaduct (Madrid).

• Torrejón de Velasco: viaduct over the Madrid-Levante HSL
  The section between Torrejón de Velasco and the branch that connects to the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed line runs between the municipalities of Torrejón de Velasco (Madrid) and Yeles (Toledo), and corresponds to the branch that connects the Madrid-Castilla La Mancha-Valencian Community-Region of Murcia and Madrid-Andalusia high-speed lines. The railway track is over 7 kilometres long. This section’s most notable elements include the construction of a 1,079 metre viaduct and a pergola 93 metres long. In the case of the load test, in order to avoid interfering with the lower track, the vertical sag or deformations of the metal deck of span 10 was measured using a laser. In terms of the inspection, it posed the usual difficulties of a viaduct of this size, such as inaccessible metal elements, except for the deck, which has hatches in the bottom sheet in sections 9 and 11, next to the part that joins to the concrete deck.
  

  Madrid-Levante HS viaduct (Torrejón de Velasco).

  Installations on the Chamartín – Atocha – Torrejón de Velasco section

  
  SIGNALLING

  • Enlargement of the electronic interlocking system in Madrid-Chamartín high-speed train station, new electronic interlocking system at the Botanical Garden and modification of the system in Torrejón de Velasco.
  • Equipment installed in the field: audio frequency track circuits, electrohydraulic point machines, wayside LED signals, etc.

  
  TRAIN PROTECTION SYSTEMS (ERTMS AND ASFA)

  • ERTMS L1 train protection system and enlargement of ERTMS Levels 1 and 2, at the southern end of Chamartín HS station and ASFA system as a second operating level.
  • New ERTMS control centre, PCE.
  • Fixed and switchable ASFA and ERTMS balises, implementation of transitions between the corresponding levels in each case (L2, L1, LZB) at the ends of the line.

  
  FIXED TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND PROTECTION AND SAFETY SYSTEMS

  • Fully-redundant fibre optic network on both sides of track and fibre optic supervision system.
  • Automatic telephone system.
  • Interconnection of the section’s networks with the CORE MPLS networks and the Madrid-Valladolid and Madrid-Levante sections.
  • Video surveillance, access control and   anti-intrusion system.
  • Integration of civil protection systems.

  
  AUXILIARY DETECTION SYSTEMS

  • 21 falling object detectors.
  • 1 hot box detector.
  • Auxiliary detecion system telecontrol  for the integration and display of section detectors.

  
  CENTRALISED TRAFFIC CONTROL (CTC)

  • Enlargement of Madrid-Valladolid and Madrid-Seville CTCs and adaptation of Madrid-Levante CTC.

  
  POWER SUPPLY

  • Power supply to the field equipment through a 750 V line from the line suppliers (technical buildings and signalling buildings).
  • Electrical connections for Chamartín-Atocha tunnel, technical buildings and electrical substations in Villaverde and El Hornillo.

  
  BUILDINGS

  • New technical building at the southern end of Chamartín.
  • Technical sites at Canal del Manzanares and Cerro de los Ángeles.

  
  PROTECTION AND SAFETY SYSTEMS

The works to install a third rail on the Astigarraga-Irún stretch in Guipúzcoa will make it possible to extend the ‘Basque Y’ –the future high-speed line between Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián– to the French border via the Madrid-Hendaya national gauge line.

The Basque Regional government and the Ministry of Public Works, through the Monitoring and Coordination Commission for the Construction of the New Railway Network in the Basque Country, agreed to accelerate the entry into service of the different stretches that make up this network in the area around San Sebastián. With this objective, at the end of 2011, it was decided to install a third rail on the national-gauge line between Astigarraga and Irún to enable high-speed trains to use the new infrastructure, make commercial stops in the centre of San Sebastián, at Atocha station and continue on to Irún and France without the need to perform reversing or gauge-switching manoeuvres.

The works executed by Adif, in which Ineco is participating, include actions on the infrastructure, track, catenary and safety systems along the 20-kilometre route, with the adaptation of tunnels, metal bridges, stations and stops for mixed traffic situations taking on special significance.

The works executed by ADIF and Ineco include actions on the infrastructure, track, catenary and safety systems

Excavation without disrupting rail traffic

The installation of a third rail in a conventional, so-called ‘old’, network with a completely urban track layout is a complex task that encompasses all of the structural and technical aspects of the railway line. The most challenging action though is undoubtedly that of enlarging the three tunnels on the Astigarraga-Irún stretch (Gaintxurizqueta, Loyola and Capuchinos) in order to comply with the values established in the Railway Gauge Instruction. The return to rail freight transport involves the use of intermodal transportation and the need for increasingly wider gauges on infrastructures that date back to the nineteenth century. Although these have been adapted over time, a major overhaul is now necessary in order to meet the new requirements. This represents a widespread problem for railway networks that must be addressed. In order to minimize disruption of rail services, Ineco has used a new construction system that has been implemented over recent years in Europe and introduced it in Spain. It involves making tunnel widening, excavation and new support placement work compatible with the passing of trains over an interior central track. This also has the added complexity of allowing trains to run on an electrified track.

Some of the 17 technicians in front of the 535.5 metre Gaintxurizketa tunnel.

To this end, Ineco technicians from all specialisations have designed a provisional arrangement that makes the widening machine compatible with the 3,000 V overhead lines.

The development of a prototype for Spain

The German firm Herrenknecht, a company with extensive international experience in the development of tunnel boring machines, has been in charge of adapting and developing its prototype to the current needs of the tunnels on the Astigarraga-Irún line.

Model TES D-835 consists of 4 modules, each with a different function (shield, excavation and shotcrete, pipe umbrella drilling and auxiliary facilities) that are assembled together. This model was designed to allow it to be used in other geological areas and to widen tunnels up to 2 metres.

The progress of the ‘Basque Y’

The infrastructure of the high-speed rail connection that will link the three provincial capitals of Euskadi with France and the rest of the Iberian Peninsula is currently being executed.

The ‘Basque Y’ is a 180.5 kilometre railway line –not including access routes to cities– which will connect the capitals of the three provinces of the Basque Region, Vitoria (Álava), San Sebastián (Guipúzcoa) and Bilbao (Vizcaya), by means of a high-speed network. It connects with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula and France, via Pamplona, through the Navarre Corridor and allows the Madrid-Valladolid-Vitoria line to be extended to the French border.

This line consists of two different branches: Vitoria-Bilbao, 90.8 kilometres, and Bergara-San Sebastián-French border, 89.7 kilometres. It will have six stations: Astigarraga, Bilbao-Abando, Vitoria, Irún, San Sebastián-Norte and Ezkio-Itsaso. The mountainous geography of the region has required the construction of 44 viaducts and 23 tunnels.

The Minister’s tweet

The minister of Public Works, Iñigo de la Serna, on his first visit in February 2017, oversaw the start of these works, which will cost more than 160 million euros, including construction and supplies. Several months later, in September, he inspected the operation of the construction system and the possibilities it offers for adapting the network to the new needs of rolling highways.

The Ministry of Public Works has presented the budget for 2017, increasing the total by 3,336 billion Euros, or 24.2% in comparison with 2016.

The budget, which the Ministry describes as realistic, aims to protect the large projects that are underway, such as the Mediterranean Corridor and the high-speed railway network. In regard to roads, a large part of the budget will be allocated to upkeep and maintenance.

Connections to airports and ports will be improved and investment in air navigation systems and airports will be increased. These budgets are aimed at the real needs of the citizens, to improve the quality of life of the Spanish people and to guarantee the territorial backbone and social cohesion, contributing to economic development and job creation.

Reduced mobility may be permanent or temporary, and it affects a broad spectrum of the population. This may include wheelchair users, people carrying large or heavy packages, people who are blind or deaf, as well as the elderly, pregnant women, parents with children in strollers, or people who have other physical difficulties to move normally. When using public transportation, their quality of life can be greatly affected if the infrastructure and adequate means to overcome barriers is not available. For this reason, the European Community and Spain both have laws that regulate the basic conditions of accessibility and non-discrimination in the access and use of means of transportation by people with disabilities.

In the case of Spain’s public transportation services, both the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the public companies Aena, Adif and Renfe have spent years designing and improving transportation systems so that people with disabilities or reduced mobility can access and use them safely and comfortably. As part of this effort, in 2007, Renfe Operadora created Atendo, a free service to provide assistance to passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility. Atendo is a cutting-edge initiative in Europe and currently serves more than 120 railway stations. At the same time, in 2007, the company launched a Universal Accessibility Plan, which was extended and improved in 2010 and includes the adaptation of stations and trains.

Ineco, as an engineering and public consultancy company, has extensive experience in the remodelling and modernization of railway stations and airport terminals, in which the accessibility is one of the key criteria. Both the engineering and architecture teams, in the project phase, and the construction management team, have been working on conditioning and adapting mobility in more than 150 Cercanías stations since the start of this century.

In order to ensure the improvement of station accessibility, Ineco has drawn up execution projects for each station by identifying shortcomings and requirements, to provide a more sustainable approach and also carries out the works based on railway operation in order to avoid disrupting passenger travel.

Improvement of six COMMUTER RAIL stations in Andalusia

Many Spanish stations are more than 80 years old and, although they have undergone constant improvements, their facilities need to be updated to conform to current regulations. In general, the scope of these actions includes the installation of lifts connecting to walkways under or over tracks to link the platforms to each other or to the other areas of the station, the adaptation of stairs to the width and number of flights established in the standard, improvements in lighting, including routing elements in flooring, changing flooring to comply with non-slip requirements, raising platforms or adapting the height of the edge of the platform, and the addition of signal bands and platform edge pieces, in accordance with the Royal Decree.

This work isoften done at night in order to keep the service open to passengers and allow trains to run normally

This report showcases the work and projects currently being carried out as part of the Renfe Station Plan in six Cercanías railway stations in the provinces of Seville and Málaga.

1. Los Boliches station

The Los Boliches station forms part of the C-1 line in Málaga’s commuter rail network, and it serves approximately 1,928 passengers per day.

The works carried out at this station have resolved the main problem: to allow accessibility for people with reduced mobility by installing a lift and improving access using stairs and a ramp.

The actions consisted of the installation of a panoramic lift; modification of the arrangement of stairs and ramps; widening the access walkway to the platform; replacement of flooring and railings; raising of the platform above the level of the track; adaptation of edges in accordance with Adif regulations regarding the installation of podotactile flooring and signalling bands; modification of the shelter and reinforcement of its lighting to comply with current regulations, and replacement of the lighting system with LEDs.

2. Lora del Río station

The Lora del Río station forms part of the C-1 line in Seville’s commuter rail network, and it serves approximately 2,466 passengers per day.

The works at this station provided a solution to the existing accessibility limitations, adjusting the edges of platforms and installing lifts in the underpass, as well as raising the height of 31 metres of platform 2 in the direction of Córdoba, and extending platform 1, also approximately 31 metres long, in the same direction, giving both platforms a total length of 200 metres. Platforms 2 and 3 were also equipped with a shelter, over the stairs and as far as the lift access. The platform lighting was strengthened and replaced with an LED lighting system.

Another important addition was the installation of three new panoramic lifts that allow the movements of all passengers to the different platforms through the underpass.

3. Virgen del Rocío station

The Virgen del Rocío station forms part of the C-1, C-4 and C-5 lines of Seville’s commuter rail network. It serves approximately 6,758 passengers per day and is located in front of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville.

The main actions at the station focused on inserting two lifts to allow accessibility between the lobby and the two platforms. The lifts were installed in this location due to the need to give priority to adequate functional distribution in the lobby as well as on the platforms. On the main platform, platform 2, the structure and layout of the ramp were modified to accommodate the lift. On platform 1, a panoramic lift was installed adjacent to the building, in the platform access area, and occupying part of the embankment.

In addition to the installation of lifts, a series of actions were carried out on the lobby, underpass and platforms to improve accessibility and appearance. These included the relocation of the existing ticket office in the commercial space, currently unused, allowing the rest of the commercial space to be used as an entrance lobby area, the installation of podotactile route indicator and the arrangement of turnstiles in a single set located in the lobby. Over the course of the project, a Customer Service area, separate from the lobby, was also implemented before the turnstile area, facilitating adequate provision of passenger services.

4. FUENGIROLA station

The Fuengirola station forms part of the C-1 line, which covers the route between that station and Málaga-Centro Alameda. The Fuengirola and Los Boliches stations are the two stations in the municipality that provide this commuter rail service.

With the works carried out at the Fuengirola station corrected its accessibility and lighting shortcomings. The main action consisted of adapting the central platform and lighting. To do this, both sides of the edge of the platforms on track 1 and track 2 were trimmed by between 5 and 15 cm to adapt them to the train’s clearance and the new piece of platform edge that was installed, along with the podotactile strip and yellow safety strip, in accordance with current accessibility regulations.

Floor routing was installed, along with signs for stairs and platform lifts on platforms and in the lobby. In addition, lighting, which is required from the street level to the platform, was strengthened.

5. BELLAVISTA station

The Bellavista station forms part of C-1 line in Seville’s commuter rail network (Lebrija-Utrera-Sevilla-Lora del Río), the network’s longest line along with C-3, and one that receives the most passengers, with an approximate demand of 1,683 per day. It is located on the edge of the city, where the railway line marks the division between urban and agricultural land.

The works solved the station’s main problem , which was to allow accessibility by people with reduced mobility by installing lifts. In addition, a series of actions were carried out on the underpass and the platforms to improve accessibility: installation of podotactile routing in the underpass; flooring to signal the location of lifts and stairs; and the replacement of the lighting system in the underpass with one with anti-glare LED technology. The works on the platforms involved the demolition and construction of new platform edges, following the guidelines for the improvement of accessibility to the railways stipulated in RD 1544/2007 and the Adif Accessibility Technical Manual.

6. Benalmádena station

The Benalmádena station is located at KM 19.6 on the of the Málaga-Fuengirola Iberian-gauge railway line and forms part of the C-1 Line of the Málaga commuter rail network.

On platform 1 of the Benalmádena station, the markings of the platform edge had to be adapted. Two carborundum strips (silicon carbide) were constructed in situ on the existing platform edge, in addition to the with the installation of a 60-cm podotactile piece and the yellow approach strip.

The main work was done on platform 2, raising the height of the entire length of the train platform (80 metres in total) to 68 cm above top of the rail and installing a new platform edge in accordance with the regulations. The platform was raised by constructing a rough brick wall and a new reinforced concrete floor, with the new edge piece installed on top, with a new 60-cm podotactile strip made of button tile, and the yellow warning strip. The new platform flooring was made of polished concrete.

In the lobby, route indicators were installed from the entrance door of the building to the passenger building, to the lifts and stairs that connect to the platforms, installing new signal flooring on them. The lighting on both platforms was renovated.

Is the future of lighthouses at risk?

Not at all. As a aid to navigation, they continue to serve as a unique point of reference for a large number of smaller vessels, as well as a verification point, and when necessary, a backup for electronic positioning systems.

Obviously, they are not as crucial as they were years ago, but advances in lighting technology and control, reducing consumption and monitoring their operation, make it viable to keep the lighthouse in service, and more efficiently than before.

With regard to the buildings that are not in use, normally the homes of the former lighthouse keepers, it is vital to create initiatives that ensure their conservation, and in many cases their refurbishment.

Have any new lighthouses been built in Spain?

The last one was put into service at the end of 1999, the Torredembarra lighthouse, which is attached to the Tarragona Port Authority. However, in the Canary Islands there are some lighthouses still to be built, as a result of the last review of the coastal networks, and these have already been included, in one way or another, in the General Maritime Signalling Plan, 1985.

However, to answer your question, yes. Due to the expansion of the Port of Valencia, the Valencia lighthouse has been replaced by a new one, made of composite (composite resin), on the new breakwater, with an LED optical system and hybrid solar-wind power, designed to operate using clean energy.

What will the lighthouses of the future be like?

Understanding a lighthouse as a maritime light signal supplemented by the landmark represented by the tower during the day, I don’t believe that they will change much from the classic image, although glass lenses and incandescent lamps will no longer be used. The lighthouses of the future, and already in the present, will be supplemented with the broadcasting of electronic information, using, for example, Automatic Identification System (AIS) technology.

It is important to remember that lighthouses are technical installations designed to provide a service, which will use the technology available at any given time, and which the users are capable of “seeing”, either directly or with the help of instruments.

Many lighthouses are over one hundred years old, is modern technology compatible with their design?

Most are more than 150 years old. They date back to the first Maritime Signalling Plan of 1847, which marks its 170th anniversary this year. We just celebrated the 175th anniversary of the first session of the Spanish Lighthouse Commission (22 February 1842), which was created on 4 February of that year.

It is vital that we all work to ensure the conservation of the historical legacy of the lighthouses

Their design is simple and that simplicity guarantees its validity. It involves placing a light at a certain height (depending on the height of the land) so that it can be seen by sailors from a distance of between 10-20 nautical miles. The tower is the support and the lantern is the glassed space that protects the lens system (lamp and lens). The new lamp technology does have to adapt to the requirements of large glass optics, but it is possible, and desirable, to maintain the existing optical elements and upgrade the lamp to the technology available. In most cases it is simple and inexpensive.

Are there still lighthouse keepers? What role do they play these days?

It’s not the case for lighthouse keepers, but there are lighthouses that are inhabited by a technician who is not exclusively dedicated to the maintenance of the lighthouse, but is also responsible for monitoring other aids to navigation in the vicinity, as well as inspecting third-party aids in the area. They are not civil servants; they belong to the staff of the port authority.

How will the commercialization of these spaces contribute to their conservation?

The existence of unused spaces creates two major problems: on the one hand, degradation in the harsh environment, and on the other, the risk of vandalism. Therefore, since it is not necessary for technicians to be present at all times in the lighthouses, the development of their supplementary uses is a successful alternative to conserve them through the vital renovations required to develop new uses.

On the other hand, the income generated by these uses, which will never be significant in the port sector, will be a supplement to the revenues collected from the aid to navigation service fee and will allow the quality of the aid to navigation service, which will always be the goal of the lighthouses, to be improved.

What are the risks and advantages?

I think the advantages have already been discussed in the previous questions, in addition to the fact that opening these lighthouse spaces, which are currently closed, to society in general, would maintain their function and exterior architecture, as a reflection of their historical legacy, which, among other things, has to be conserved.

I don’t see any significant risks or at least any that cannot be managed with the proper measures. On the contrary, significant risks could occur if the unused spaces of the lighthouses are not used, since vandalism or degradation can leave them in ruins in no time at all, bearing in mind that the quality of the construction of the houses of the old lighthouse keepers is rather poor.

All the neighbouring countries have successfully developed similar initiatives to make use of the unused spaces of their lighthouses for tourism, as a strategy to conserve them. These include, among others, the United Kingdom (England and Scotland), Ireland, South Africa, Norway and, recently, Italy, with a new project that covers initiatives with more than 50 lighthouses.

How has Ineco’s inventory contributed? Has it revealed anything new?

The inventory done by Ineco, with the information provided by the port authorities, has meant, on the one hand, an update of the information of the unused spaces available in the lighthouses and, on the other hand, the uses that are being developed in those spaces, revealing, in some cases, that the information held by Puertos del Estado was not updated, either due to unreported uses (when it was not mandatory) or uses that were not ultimately implemented.

It has become very common to hear talk of BIM in technical forums, but what exactly is it? Do we know all its applications in our work? Who works with BIM in Spain, and who are they working for? BIM stands for Building Information Modelling, which brings us to the first clarification we should make: as well as buildings, BIM can also be used in infrastructure and any kind of construction in general.

Beyond these precisions, the concept of BIM is to use a graphical interface to document all the details that we want to gather about each building. Programs that work with BIM will show us the building elements of our work, and we will feed the program all the associated documentation. Once we finish this process, we will have a striking virtual model of the building and, more importantly, a large, perfectly-organised database for the design.

With BIM, our project is ostensibly superior and far more descriptive, coherent and complete

This is evidently a much more complete way of designing than using a CAD program; greater effort is required in the design phase for this reason. With all this information, the design is ostensibly superior and far more descriptive, coherent and complete. Using computers, we have resolved the problems that would usually arise on site, avoiding expenses for materials, distributing installations in the most suitable way, reducing completion times, minimising errors and making gains in safety and sustainability, among a great many other advantages. If we are ingenious in managing the data we feed into our model, the limit to these advantages is our imagination.

We can use BIM by searching for any of its known capabilities, but also for any other task we can imagine. All we need is to know and properly manage the parameters of the different building elements in our virtual model, or the parameters we have assigned them. To be more specific, let’s focus on the parameter of dimensions in BIM. One of BIM’s functions is the 3D modelling and visualisation. It is now possible to create precision designs thanks to powerful programs on the market. This allows us to offer to our customers any manner of technical drawings, which will be perfectly coherent with one another and fully parameterised.

We can also generate the most photorealistic images and impressive videos of our virtual models. However, when we incorporate 4D information, other uses become possible. The concept of time allows us to create work schedules, reducing completion times and integrating work from each discipline into each stage of the work. All this is done using the parameters of our virtual model. 5D information refers to the costs of different building elements and consignments, making it possible to generate estimates and project certifications as works develop. We can also link the different building elements to our favourite cost database and manage parametric measurements with our preferred estimating software. 6D information refers to the building’s sustainability. The software makes powerful energy use calculations, accounting for the building’s exposure to the sun and countless other criteria that directly influence the building’s sustainability throughout its life cycle. Finally, 7D information is dedicated to the operation and maintenance of the property, the costs of which reach several times the original cost of the work.

The BIM methodology can integrate the Lean methodology (cutting waste and inefficiency) and the concept of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), a new trend in construction where the architect, engineers, contractor and even the administration work in conjunction in drawing up projects. This makes it possible to solve problems from the very beginning, when the cost of addressing them is negligible compared to rectifying errors of coordination once work is underway.

Whether we like it or not, BIM has arrived and it’s here to stay. The governments of many countries are promoting the use of BIM and making it a requirement of its biddings. There is no turning back. We do not have money to improvise prototypes for every work. With BIM, we create the prototype virtually and begin production once it is optimised, as if it were a ship or a plane.

The governments of an ever-increasing number of countries are promoting the use of BIM

BIM is not new by any means; what is new is the capacity of our personal computers to handle this enormous amount of information, and the ability to use telecommunications to send that information anywhere in the world. These new capabilities have made BIM a reality in the offices of small technical firms around the world, rather than only in large, elite centres. Spain is characterised by having a great number of these smaller offices and very few huge work centres. But let’s not forget the potential of Spain’s large engineering and construction firms. They are currently working more on large works in the rest of the world than in Spain. However, all the important work being done will gradually begin to require the use of the best available technology: BIM.

Pro-BIM organisations

All this movement led to the creation in late 2011 of the buildingSMART Spanish Chapter (www.buildingsmart.es) of BuildingSMART International, the agency that works with the ISO and the CEN in developing international standards for BIM. When it was founded, there were few more than 20 member companies, institutions and private individuals. Today, the group has over 140 members from all parts of the sector: engineering and construction firms, architects, building products manufacturers, software developers, project developers, research centres, universities, etc. Sergio Muñoz has been the organisation’s president since it was founded. If we examine the association’s website, we can see that its objectives are the following:

•  To develop and maintain international, open, neutral BIM standards (Open BIM).
•  To accelerate interoperability in the construction sector through success stories.
•  To provide specifications, documentation and reference guides.
•  To identify and solve problems interfering with the exchange of information.
•  To extend the use of this technology and its associated processes throughout the life cycle of the building, incorporating all actors involved.

Despite its short history and the fact that its members work without remuneration, it has made very significant achievements. The following are particularly noteworthy:

•  uBIM guides, produced with the voluntary participation of 80 technicians led by Manuel Bouzas. These guides are for users of BIM in Spanish and are analogous to the guides available in other countries and languages. The guides, comprising 13 documents, organise according to discipline the tasks of design, planning, construction and operation of buildings using BIM technology. The guides can be downloaded free at: www.buildingsmart.es/bim/gu%C3%ADas-ubim/.
•  The Spanish Journal of BIM is a dissemination and research journal, published in Spanish. Directed by Antonio Manuel Reyes, the journal has a science committee made up of a group of professionals in the sector from Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Chile. It has been published biannually since mid-2014, both digitally and in print. The journal is free and available for download at: www.buildingsmart.es/journal-sjbim/historial/.
•  esFAB, the Spanish BIM Academic Forum (www.buidingsmart.es/esfab/), is organised by Norena Martín and Óscar Liébana. The goal of the project is to create an academic network to develop and promote training, learning and research in the field of BIM through close collaboration and cooperation between members and other organisations and bodies whose ultimate aim includes improving the productive model of construction.

In addition to these achievements, members of this active organisation participate in one way or another in all conferences in the sector and all commissions that meet on the subject. Noteworthy examples are the AEN/CT 41/SC13 Committee, which when it concludes will draw up an UNE standard on standardisation in BIM projects, and the recently formed CEN/442 Committee, which fulfils the same role at the European level.

But if anything can be expected to give the definitive push towards the use of BIM in Spain, it would be esBIM (www.esbim.es), the BIM Commission set up by the Ministry of Public Works and organised by Ineco. The purpose of the commission comprises the following points:

1. To promote the implementation of BIM in the Spanish construction industry through the creation of a working group open to participation from the sector as a whole, both public and private.
2. To foster the use of BIM throughout infrastructure life cycles.
3. To raise awareness among public administrations about establishing BIM requirements in infrastructure public tenders with the aim of reducing costs.
4. To establish a schedule for adapting regulations for the generalised use of BIM.
5. To develop national standards allowing for a uniform application of BIM.
6. To produce the academic roadmap for BIM training in Spain and to promote its inclusion in curricula.
7. To promote the digitalisation of derivative work of infrastructure development, abandoning physical formats and consequently making economic and environmental savings.
8. To foster the application of Open BIM, wherein all BIM-related operations are based on open, universal, mutually interoperable standards.
9. To offer support in increasing and improving the position of Spanish industry in the world through the use of BIM methodology.
10. To secure Spain’s participation in all international decision-making forums.

As a final comment: one idea that came out of this commission, and hence also out of the Ministry of Public Works, is for designs for public buildings submitted from 2018 to support BIM, and for linear works designs to support it from early 2019. The BIM train has pulled into the station, are you getting on board?

With more than three million travellers in 2015, according to data from the Ministry of Public Works, passengers have given the ‘thumbs up’ to the Atlantic Axis, a railway infrastructure designed for speeds of up to 250 km/h. The renovation, electrification and duplication of existing routes in addition to the construction of new bypasses and several viaducts, bridges and tunnels have made it possible to transition from the old, non-electrified single tracks to high-performance rail infrastructure: greater speeds, capacity, safety, frequency and comfort for passengers who save up to 58% in travel time. In addition to making renovations to the rolling stock, Renfe has also maintained fares and reorganised rail services which are now divided into “express” and “local” services to cover direct routes between large cities as well as between the urban centres near these cities.

Ineco collaborated in the execution of these projects which have revitalised railway transport in Galicia. According to data from the Railway Observatory of the Ministry of Public Works, the A Coruña-Santiago route is one of the top five regional rail lines for traffic in all of Spain. The Businessmen’s Association of Galicia (Círculo de Empresarios de Galicia) considers that the growth in traffic along this route –a growth of more than 90% between 2008 and 2013– is “a fact that must be directly attributed to the improvement in infrastructure and the implementation of a high-performance rail line on this route of the Atlantic Axis”.

Ineco has worked in construction & environmental management & monitoring, project drafting, inspections & structural testing

In April 2015 the Santiago de Compostela-Vigo section was inaugurated –the third of the three sections that make up the majority of this route which represents a milestone in the modernisation of the Galician railway. The territory of this region is characterised by a great dispersion of populated areas: few big cities –concentrated in costal areas–, many small, isolated areas –especially inland– and very rugged terrain. In addition to these characteristics we can also mention the natural geographical barriers that separate Galicia from the Meseta –barriers that have historically stood in the way of constructing land transport infrastructures, both road and rail.

A far-reaching project

The Axis, spanning 155 kilometres, runs along Galicia’s Atlantic Coast and connects the main areas of industrial and economic activity as well as universities, areas which fuel the demand for transport. The pre-study phase is already underway for the connections A Coruña-Ferrol (63.2 km) to the north of the Axis, in addition to Vigo-Border of Portugal (22.1 km) in the far south of Galicia. The route also connects Santiago with Ourense in the east where this section links up with the high-speed access route to Madrid which is currently under construction.

Initial work on the transformation of existing infrastructure into a modern, high-performance, rapid railway corridor began in 2002. Work was carried out in phases and consisted in installing, along the entire route, a double track with multi-purpose sleepers that will later allow for the change from the Iberian gauge to the standard gauge. The line has also been electrified to 25 kV at 50 Hz, and bypasses have been constructed which have shortened the route by almost 22 kilometres. New sections of the line, owing to the land’s rugged terrain, required several structures: 37 tunnels –totalling a distance of more than 60 kilometres– and 32 viaducts that span a total of 14.9 kilometres. The majority of these structures are located along the section between Santiago and Vigo. This was the most complex part of the route to construct and was the last to begin operating, following both A Coruña-Santiago in 2009 and the Santiago-Ourense connection in December 2011.

In addition to the work concerning electrification, platforms and route corrections (bypasses), adapting the line to new, high speeds also required the remodelling of stations at A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Pontevedra, Uxes, Villagarcía de Arousa and Arcade-Apeadero, as well as the construction of new stations: Cerceda-Meirama, Ordes, Padrón-Barbanza, Redondela High Speed and Vigo-Urzáiz, as well as the “temporary” Vigo-Guixar station.

Ineco on the Atlantic Axis

Throughout these years, Ineco has offered their services to the Ministry of Public Works, Renfe and Adif in these highly technical and complex activities, just as they did for the rest of the rail network. Ineco was thus responsible for carrying out tasks regarding the management, coordination and surveillance of construction work, the environmental management of different sections along the whole of the Axis, and the drafting of architectural plans (stations) and railway installations (signalling, safety, telecommunications, etc.).The company also conducted a number of studies in addition to inspections and structural load tests, some as exceptional as that of the Ulla viaduct (see IT54)

Ineco furthermore provided assistance in the management and coordination of tunnel construction work, such as the Vigo access tunnel measuring 8,266 metres long which was carried out using tunnelling machinery, and in the installation of safety systems: electrical installations, ventilation, fire protection systems, etc..

Also worth mentioning in relation to architectural work is the drafting of the construction project for the Vigo-Guixar station which, starting in 2011, has operated as the sole station following demolition of the old building while the new terminal was constructed (in the same location). The Guixar station is a two-storey passenger building boasting 1,000 square metres of space, three platforms measuring 285, 165 and 100 metres long for long-distance and regional rail trains, parking, and bus and taxi stops. When the new Vigo-Urzáiz station began operating in 2015, the Ministry of Public Works decided to keep the Guixar station open to freight transport as well as to local trains.

Ineco also carried out a project, completed in 2010, to standardise architectural elements such as marquees, enclosure gates, decorative elements and locks at nine stations: Redondela, Pontevedra, Padrón, Ordes, Cerceda, Uxes, Pontevedra-Universidad, Arcade and Vilagarcía de Arousa. New passenger buildings were also designed for the latter two stations.

The 155-km line has reduced the average travel time between A Coruña and Vigo by 58% and is one of the most widely travelled routes Spain

With regard to new sections of the line, Ineco coordinated the construction of the Ordes bypass in the province of A Coruña, a section that, over a span of just 7.2 kilometres, required two tunnels and a handful of viaducts. The Vilagarcía-Padrón bypass located between Santiago and Vigo stands out for its complexity, reaching a length of 26.1 kilometres. The company provided technical assistance throughout the management of construction work as well as during the environmental management, control and surveillance of several subsections. The bypass was one of the corridor’s most complex sections with seven tunnels and a dozen viaducts, including one which crosses the Ulla river (spanning a distance of 16 kilometres) and another that crosses over the Sar river –the longest on the Axis- measuring 2.4 kilometres.

Ineco also played a role during each of the phases of development of another high-performance railway connection: the line which links the Atlantic Axis to Ourense from Santiago (see IT18 and 44). The company was highly involved in all of the stages of development of this 150-kilometre section of the line, from project drafting to drawing up operations and maintenance plans, as well as during the construction phases including construction and environmental management services, technical assistance, surveillance and coordination services, etc. Since it entered into service in December 2011, the Santiago-Ourense corridor has also contributed to improving railway connections with the Meseta by reducing existing conventional service travel time by 50 minutes.

Spain is the third most popular tourist destination in the world in terms of revenue and for another year it has beaten its own record by exceeding 68 million visitors in 2015, three million more than the previous year. According to all of the analyses carried out, a factor that has benefited the sector is the situation of political instability from 2011 in Mediterranean destinations such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. They all compete with Spain, which mainly receives European tourists: seven out of ten are British, French, German or Italian although, in relative terms, the increase in arrivals from the US and Asian countries is notable. According to Turespaña data, almost 80% of the total number came by air (half on a low-cost airline); a determining factor in this figure is that the Balearic and Canary Islands, for example, which are amongst the most touristic destinations in the world, are islands. As such, in 2015 all of the 46 airports in Spain registered more than 207 million passengers, 5.9% more than the previous year.

During 2015, eight out of ten visitors came to one of the 46 Spanish airports

Besides the two major Spanish airports, Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat, which between them accounted for 41.7% with 86.5 million, more than 101.7 million passengers –49.1% of the total– were counted in the 14 airports classified as “touristic”, coinciding with the most touristic destinations: the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca; the Valencian community, with Valencia and Alicante airports; Andalusia, with Málaga and Seville; the Canary Islands, with the airports of Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma; and Catalonia, with Girona and Reus airports.

They all underwent processes of improvement and enlargement in the 2000s in order to increase their capacity, closely linked to the growth in tourism, known as the Barajas Plan, Barcelona Plan, Levant Plan, Málaga Plan, Canary Islands Plan, etc. During this time, Ineco has provided its services to the Ministry of Development and Aena in the planning and execution of the activities. Since 2008 it has also been in charge of the Traffic Forecast Office, which plays a key role in airport planning. A few times a year, a team of engineers and technicians updates the forecasts, and this is carried out with a macroeconometric model called PISTA (Integrated Prognosis of Air Traffic Systems), also developed by Ineco, with a specific methodology based on the concept of a ‘network’ and independent models for the national and international segments, based on significant economic variables. Furthermore, in preparing the specific forecasts for each airport and for the short-medium-term, other factors are taken into account such as competition from other means of transport (mainly AVE), the existence of other airports in the area of influence, changes in offers from airlines (new destinations, greater frequency, new models of airplanes used, etc.), special events (sports competitions, summits, etc.) and others.

Since 2008, Ineco has also been in charge of the Traffic Forecast Office, which plays a key role in airport planning

Not only are volumes of passengers, operations and goods for each airport in the network forecast, but the design values (DHP, design hour passengers; and DHA, design hour aircraft) that are essential for adequate planning of the infrastructure are also considered, since they allow detection of the needs that airports will have and, furthermore, when it will be necessary to carry out the activities. The results of the traffic forecasts are used to prepare Aena’s business and investment plans, as well as to design commercial strategies in airports and, as such, they are very important.