Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York State, opened the new Moynihan Train Hall on 1 January. The hall is located in the historic and recently renovated Farley building in central Manhattan. It covers an area of 32,000 m² and enlarges the concourse space of Penn Station – one of the country’s busiest – by 50%.

Ineco worked on the project in 2018 and 2019, providing Operational Readiness and Transfer (ORAT) services to WSP USA for the new underground train hall (see IT65), which will serve two operators: Amtrak, with 16 medium and long-distance lines, and LIRR, with 10 commuter lines.

The work carried out by Ineco included preparing a detailed programme of activities, designing and commissioning the structure, coordinating the various work groups, creating a risk register, identifying and evaluating processes, and preparing the ORAT manual.

The deployment of Ineco’s integrated project management team to take operational readiness activation and transfer (ORAT) for the expansion of Kuwait International Airport (KIA) has begun. In the picture, from left to right, the first arrivals in October, engineers Ángel Toro, Stephen Manjai and Samuel Machín.

The expansion includes a new 700,000 m² terminal building, extensions to both runways and a new control tower.

The expansion includes, among other works, the construction of a new 700,000 m² terminal building (the main purpose of this contract, and whose construction began in 2017), the extension of the two runways, the construction of a new third runway, a new control tower, and the construction of the associated infrastructure on the land and air sides of the airport. This award will enable Ineco to participate in one of the most emblematic airport projects in the Middle East. Ineco, the leader of the consortium, together with its local partners, the Kuwaiti firms KUD (Kuwait United Development) specialising in project management, and the engineering and architecture firm Dar al Jazera Consultants, will coordinate the work of the many consultants and contractors from various countries involved in the works, which will increase the airport’s capacity to 25 million passengers, which in a second phase that is being considered would raise capacity to 50 million in its final stage.

For Ignacio Alejandre, ORAT project manager, “the contract is a major challenge for Ineco. Its complexity and scope will demand the best of the team on the ground and support from all areas of the company.” Ineco previously worked at this airport between 2011 and 2016, carrying out project management tasks and updating the 2010 Master Plan for the Kuwait Civil Aviation Authority.

Project head Angel Toro stresses that “in terms of airports, this is one of the most ambitious projects underway in the world today. It will be a highly motivating challenge for a team of between 40 and 50 people, and will enable Ineco to be a key player in the development of this airport.”

Division of the works into three main packages

Due to the large number and magnitude of the planned works, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Public Works has divided the works into three main packages, which will be tendered separately: the first package includes the new main terminal building, a central plant building for power and chilled water, another for the water supply and an utility tunnel that will connect the terminal building with the future cargo area of the airport. The second is a car park with 5,200 spaces (a total area 325,000 m²), landscaping, an underground sewage treatment plant, the new access roads and four storm water storage tanks. The third package includes the main apron, new taxiways, several tunnels that will connect the new terminal with the rest of the facilities and a consolidation centre between the landside and airside, which will include waste management facilities, storage dedicated for the retail shops and facilities for the Ministry of the Interior and Custom Control.

The expansion includes, among other works, the construction of a new 700,000 m² terminal building, the extension of the two runways and a new control tower, which will increase the capacity to 25 million passengers

Under this contract, with a completion time of 50 months, Ineco will also provide ORAT (Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer) services for the last two years, which include the planning, validation and execution of live exams called ‘trials’ of all the systems and procedures for the terminal prior to its commissioning, as well as personnel training, to ensure that the opening of the new facilities goes smoothly. The company has extensive experience in ORAT in major airports in Spain – Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, Alicante, etc. – and other countries – Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Newark (USA), etc.

Signing of the contract by the Spanish commercial attaché in Kuwait, Francisco J. Medina, on behalf of Ineco.

Kuwait International Airport, which went into operation in 1961, is located in Farwaniyah, 16 kilometres south of the capital, Kuwait City. It has two parallel runways of 3,400 and 3,500 metres in length and 11 aircraft parking aprons and two control towers: a main tower, located between the two runways, and an apron movement control tower. The main passenger terminal shaped like an airplane was designed in 1979 by the famous Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. The airport also has other terminal buildings serving Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways. The airport also houses a military base, a general aviation terminal opened in 2008 and a restricted access terminal reserved for the Head of State, the Emir of Kuwait.

Ineco will continue to collaborate with the company Arcadis to provide consultancy services for the operational readiness and transfer (ORAT) of the new terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ). Terminal 1, which will replace the old terminal building A built in 1973, will feature 33 boarding gates, a new aircraft parking apron, a public car park with 2,750 spaces and new access roads.

Swedavia, a Swedish public operator that manages 10 airports, managing approximately 42 million passengers per year, has signed a framework agreement with Ineco as a specialised ORAT consultant to assist it in the process of creating its own ORAT department with the aim of strengthening its management capacity.

Due to the growth of Sweden’s air traffic over the last decade, the operator needs to undertake various expansions at its airports.  To carry out the operational readiness and transfer of these new infrastructures, Ineco will provide Swedavia with its consulting services in order to identify resources and define the methodology to optimise these tasks.

Ineco’s study will be carried out in several phases. Using the current situation as a starting point, the work will focus on determining the structure and dimensions of the new department, and the method of adapting it to Swedavia’s organisational environment. The proposed solution will then be tested as a pilot project on the Göteborg Landvetter Airport expansion. The last stage will be the final implementation of the ORAT methodology, a process in which Ineco has 20 years of experience in Spanish airports across the Aena network and internationally, in airports such as Newark in the US, and Abu Dhabi, where the company has been carrying out an ORAT project since 2014.

Each year, New York’s Penn Station handles more passengers than the JFK, Newark and LaGuardia Airports put together. With more than 650,000 users a day and connections to subway, bus lines and taxis, it is the busiest railway station in the US. As a result, it suffers from severe congestion, which greatly affects the comfort and welfare of users, since the space available and facilities were not designed for such a large volume of travellers. In addition, in 1963, much of the original station was demolished to build Madison Square Garden. Since then, the number of passengers has tripled.

The Moynihan is slated to go into operation at the beginning  of 2021, making it a highly complex challenge

After years of projects and negotiations, the State of New York, through the public entity Empire State Development Corporation (ESD) finally reached an agreement with a private investment trust and concessionaire (Related-Vornado) to convert the Farley Post Office into a modern railway station in the centre of Manhattan. The railway complex is completed by the Farley Building, a spectacular construction that occupies two blocks –32,000 m²– completed in 1913, which until now housed New York’s main post office, located opposite Penn Station.

The Moynihan Train Hall project, named in honour of the senator who promoted it three decades ago, will service two operators: Amtrak, with 16 medium and long-distance lines, and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), with 10 commuter lines. In the interim, work is being carried out in the current station (new access routes, renovation of the traveller information system, etc.) to alleviate saturation and improve quality of service while the new transfer station is being built.

Moynihan is slated to go into operation at the beginning of 2021, making it a highly complex challenge. WSP USA, acting as programme manager (overall project supervisor) for Empire State Development (ESD), selected Ineco’s proposal to provide operational readiness and transfer (ORAT) services for the new facilities in September 2018.

A month later, the company began work to ensure that everything would be ready for the opening. While the works are being executed, the interventions of a long list of participants must be coordinated: owners, contractors, architects, tenants, private investors and numerous municipal, state and federal authorities.

Ineco’s work includes planning the entire process of putting the Moynihan Train Hall into operation and opening it to the public

Ineco’s work includes planning the entire process of putting the Moynihan Train Hall into operation and opening it to the public. This will take 30 months and includes coordination of the different work groups, planning and execution of operational trials, designing and carrying out familiarisation and orientation of the personnel of the different project participants and completion of the process with operational transfer and opening. To achieve all of this, Ineco will be applying the ORAT methodology that it has developed and refined over the years and which has demonstrated its effectiveness.

Ineco has collaborated with the company Arcadis on the definition of the scope of the project for the commissioning and Operational Readiness and Transfer (ORAT) of the new terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. Terminal A will replace the old building, which was constructed in 1973 and exceeded 9 million passengers, handling 10 million in 2015. The new project will increase capacity and significantly reduce travel times to boarding gates.

The company has extensive experience in ORAT in more than 20 airports, from its first works with Aena in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Malaga) to the current contract, in collaboration with Aena, to carry out the Operational Readiness and Transfer of the new terminal at the airport at Abu Dhabi, the Midfield Terminal Complex, designed by KPF, which is expected to serve more than 30 million passengers. This work is included within the framework contract for the Project Management of the expansion programme and is the first contract executed by Ineco in the USA.

Last April a delegation from Abu Dhabi Airports (ADAC) travelled to Spain to visit the Madrid-Barajas airport and Ineco’s headquarters in Madrid. The company is conducting the comprehensive project management and supervision of the expansion of Fujairah Airport in the United Arab Emirates.

The works, awarded by ADAC, include the extension of the current runway, a new control tower, a taxiway, an electric substation and a fire-fighting building, as well as new navigation aids.

In addition to this work, since 2014, Ineco and Aena have been in charge of the start-up (ORAT) of the Midfield Terminal Complex, the new terminal at the Abu Dhabi International Airport.

In the photo, Ineco’s the Middle East Account manager, Javier Pérez Diestro, with the members of the delegation

Ineco is managing and supervising the expansion work being carried out on Fujairah Airport in the United Arab Emirates alongside its partner PMDC (Project Management and Development Consultants). The project awarded by Abu Dhabi Airports (ADAC) will be carried out over a period of three years; the contract includes enlargement of the current runway as well as construction of a control tower, a taxiway, an electrical substation, a fire station and new navigation aids.

The Emirate of Fujairah presently finds itself immersed in a plan for tourism development in the region, in which the airport’s expansion plays a key role. In addition to this project, Ineco has also been in charge of the Operational Readiness and Transfer (ORAT) of the new Abu Dhabi international airport terminal infrastructure, the Midfield Terminal Complex, alongside Aena since 2014. The company has also had the support of a branch office in Abu Dhabi since 2014 which attends to the UAE as well as to the rest of the countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).