MITMA Group companies, including Ineco, have joined the STEAM Alliance for female talent. On 9 February, the signing ceremony of the protocol took place with the Ministers of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and Education and Vocational Training, Raquel Sánchez and Pilar Alegría, respectively, and the presidents of Adif, Renfe, ENAIRE, Aena, Puertos del Estado and Ineco, Sergio Vázquez (third from the left). 

Under the slogan ‘Girls in Science’, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is promoting this initiative in the public and private sectors to “encourage the interest of girls and young women in disciplines related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics” (STEAM).

Supporting the STEAM vocations of girls and women in education is a priority issue not only for the United Nations, which includes it in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but also for the European Union and the government of Spain, which has included it in the Digital Spain 2025 Agenda. Meanwhile, Ineco has made equality one of the pillars of its strategic business plan.

Ineco is collaborating with Renfe on the Commuter Stations Plan 2019 to 2024, which includes various works to increase the capacity and performance of the network and increase comfort and accessibility to trains and stations. Among other works, the company has carried out projects and works management for the Cerdanyola-Universidad and Santa Perpetua de Mogoda stations in Barcelona. At Cerdanyola-Universidad station, which has five tracks and three platforms, access for people with reduced mobility has been improved thanks to the installation of three lifts serving the subway. At the new Santa Perpetua de Mogoda station, the main works have consisted of the construction of a main building, a subway to connect the platforms, the installation of lifts, new shelters and the development of the accesses.

Adif has also commissioned Ineco to draw up the construction project for the new Parets del Vallès railway station, which forms part of the conventional gauge line linking Barcelona, Vic and Puigcerdà. The project includes a new passenger building with lifts, a car park and an urban pedestrian connection footbridge.

Ineco’s president, Carmen Librero, has announced the launch of the Carlos III University of Madrid’s Specialist in Railway Operational Safety degree, promoted by the company, which will provide four of its professionals as lecturers, together with Adif, Adif Alta Velocidad, Renfe and the State Agency for Railway Safety. The programme offers comprehensive training in railway safety and is aimed at bachelor’s or master’s degree graduates.

The new degree was presented during the Ineco Forum session ‘The Future of the Rail’, on 22 June, as part of Rail Week held on the occasion of the European Year of Rail. The event was opened by Casimiro Iglesias, General Director of Planning and Evaluation of the Railway Network of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, and was attended by the main players in the sector.

Ineco, on behalf of Renfe, has inspected the second batch of reconditioned trains that Kenya Railways acquired in 2019 from the Mallorcan rail operator SFM. The batch comprises six 6100-series diesel units manufactured by CAF, which will join the five units, also inspected by Ineco, that were shipped in late 2020 to serve Nairobi’s new network of commuter lines (see IT70). This second batch completes the total of 11 diesel multiple units and one trailer unit that were acquired by the Kenyan operator.

*In the field of aeronautics, Ineco is to begin a new project in Africa: specifically, in Cape Verde, where the company has been working since 2003. The new project consists of a feasibility study for a new airport on the island of Santo Antão.

The Mayan civilisation, which flourished for two thousand years on the Yucatan peninsula and in the area that is today Guatemala and Belize, gives its name to the railway project that the Mexican federal government is promoting in the region, located in the southeastern part of the country, through the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism, FONATUR.

The Tren Maya will be a conventional passenger and freight line more than 1,500 kilometres long, crossing five states –Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo– with the objectives of boosting tourism and the agricultural sector, as well as creating employment in the region by encouraging social inclusion, promoting and safeguarding local indigenous cultures, and protecting and rehabilitating the Natural Protected Areas of the Yucatán peninsula. For the Mexican federal government, this is a “priority” project, with an important social component, and the first section is expected to be put into service in 2023. The government estimates that the new line will reduce passenger travel times by 46% and increase the speed of freight transport by up to 72% compared to the speed of the existing rail tracks.

In December 2020, FONATUR awarded the consortium –made up of Renfe, Ineco, Inecomex and Germany’s DB Engineering & Consulting– a three-year contract as a ‘shadow operator’, or consultant for the operation and supervision of the Tren Maya project in which it will review the basic engineering of the entire project, defining the requirements for the operation and technical specifications of the rolling stock and railway systems. It will also verify that the maintenance requirements are consistent with the approach of the operations plan.

The consortium will also advise FONATUR throughout the tendering process for the acquisition of rolling stock and railway systems (signalling, communications and control posts) from the preparation of the tender documents, support during the tendering process, supervision of the manufacture, delivery and commissioning of the rolling stock, including workshops and depots, to the start-up and commercial operation of the passenger rail transport operation.

SIGNING OF THE CONTRACT. December 2020, FONATUR awarded the consortium made up of Renfe, Ineco, Inecomex and the German company DB Engineering & Consulting, a three-year contract as adviser for the operation and supervision of the project. / PHOTO_INECO

A mixed line with international gauge

The Tren Maya will be a conventional mixed-use line linking the region’s main production and tourist centres. It is designed for a top speed of 160 km/h for passenger traffic –long-haul, regular (medium distance) and tourism– and 100 km/h for freight. Virtually the entire route will be built on ballast with international gauge (1,435 mm).

Eighteen stations and 12 stops have initially been planned, although the federal government has pointed out that “as the train matures and demand conditions increase, additional stations may be added”. Multimodal charging stations are also planned for Campeche, Merida, Cancun and Chetumal.

The project has been divided into seven sections (see map); sections 1 to 5 will be developed by FONATUR, while sections 6 and 7 have been entrusted to the Ministry of National Defence (SEDENA). The first stage of the project (sections 1 to 4) runs between Palenque and Cancún, and will be electrified between Mérida and Cancún. The second stage (sections 5 to 7) runs from Cancún to Escárcega, bordering the Yucatán peninsula in the south-southeast, and will be electrified between Cancún and Chetumal. Overall, 43.8% of the line –680 kilometres– will be electrified.

A large part of the route will use existing rights of way, and level crossings will be avoided. In order to ensure accessibility to the territory, the construction of 24 viaducts, more than 200 vehicle crossings and some twenty pedestrian walkways is planned, as well as more than 2,700 wildlife crossings.

The route will provide access from the general corridor to places of interest such as Chichen Itzá and Chetumal. An underground branch line has been planned in Mérida under the existing railway line, thus eliminating the barrier effect generated by the existing route.

According to the federal government, the route will be double or single track, depending on demand on each stretch. For the line as a whole, two time horizons have been taken into account: by 2023, more than 66,000 passengers per day and almost 2.5 million tonnes of freight per year are expected, and by 2053, more than 255,000 passengers per day and almost 10.6 million tonnes per year.

General layout of the route.

Railway systems

In terms of track superstructure, the line will be equipped with the most advanced railway systems: ATP (Automatic Train Protection) and ATC (Automatic Train Control). The railway communication systems will be based on wireless technologies, which will allow reliable and continuous communication between the different parties involved in railway operation and between these parties and the public civil protection services. Railway operation control will have a Command and Control Centre located in the city of Mérida and several area control centres.

The Tren Maya will have a series of safety systems to detect anomalous events, which will be connected to the Command and Control Centre. The main systems include detectors for hot axle box and hot wheels (HABD/HWD), objects fall, dragging equipment and derailed axles, gauge excess
and broken rails.

Stations and technical buildings will be equipped with a high-performance network of fibre optic connections, radio communications, radio infrastructure approximately every 15 kilometres of the route and connections to emergency services. Subsystems for video surveillance, telephony/intercom, sound and voice, remote indicators, access control and ticketing are also planned.

2021 is an important year for Ineco, as it marks 10 since the opening of the subsidiary Inecomex. In its more than 20 years of experience in Mexico, the company has developed more than 40 projects

Rolling stock

The passenger rolling stock will be designed according to the three types of service to be provided: long distance, regular and tourism. The trains will be modular, allowing multiple sets of trains to be coupled together in order to increase capacity as required. The coaches will have two doors each and a passageway between them; they will also be accessible for passengers with reduced mobility. In terms of performance, they will have a maximum speed of 160 km/h, operate in both directions and have a seating capacity of up to 450, which can be adjusted to meet demand. The project is planned for the use of diesel and diesel-electric rolling stock.

The freight rolling stock will use diesel traction with an installed capacity for a maximum speed of 100 km/h and a maximum axle weight of 32.5 tonnes. The maximum length will be 1,500 metres and, when running, sidings will be provided to allow trains to pass each other in the event of a breakdown, emergency or overtaking.

Initially, the construction of three rolling stock depots, seven maintenance bases at strategic locations and nine parking garages to house the trains overnight is planned.

A project with considerable impact

According to the federal government, the new railway line will improve connectivity and tourism development in an area where “economic activities are concentrated in a few distant urban centres, with a population of 7.3 million people living in poverty”, which is why “one of the main objectives of the Tren Maya is to boost the region’s economy” and achieve a “multiplier effect” from the investment.

With regard to the protection of the natural environment and the cultural and archaeological heritage, the government stresses that the project strictly complies with existing legislation, as well as considering the scale of the human and material resources for this purpose. In addition, a public consultation involving more than 10,000 people from indigenous communities in the five states through which the route will pass was held at the end of 2019, resulting in a number of agreements.

On 26 October, the Minister for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda officially opened the high-speed line in Galicia between Zamora and Pedralba de la Pradería, leaving only one leg to complete the line. The new railway, 110 kilometres long and with 14 viaducts and 9 tunnels, is outfitted with level 2 ERTMS and has been built for speeds of 300 km/h.

Ineco has been heavily involved in work on the line. It is currently the works and environmental manager for several sites on the last unfinished section, between Pedralba and Ourense (see IT67). At 101 kilometres long, and with 32 viaducts and 31 tunnels, Transport Minister Abalos declared that “this is one of the most complicated stretches of high-speed railway in Spain and Europe”.

The official opening was also attended by the Minister of Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, and the Presidents of Adif and Renfe, Isabel Pardo de Vera and Isaías Táboas, along with other leading figures.

In 2012, Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and one of Africa’s major cities, reopened its railways after a century, with its first commuter line connecting the capital to the Syokimau neighbourhood in the south, which saw the construction of the first new railway station in 80 years. It was the first step to giving the city and its suburbs an accessible, efficient mass public transport system that will help to reduce congestion. Growth of the population –some four million people in 2019– has stimulated the use of private vehicles and the city’s popular minibuses, known as ‘matatus’, which operate as shared taxis.

For this reason, work is underway for the Development of Commuter Rail Master Plan for the Nairobi Metropolitan Region, and aims to make rail the alternative mode of transport for the 13 million people that the World Bank, which is supporting the project, estimates will live the city by 2030 (increasing to 22 million in 2045). By then, it is expected there will be a total of six commuter lines, with 163 kilometres of track, 53 stations and 1.4 million daily passengers.

The first actions recommended by the Master Plan include the purchase of rolling stock, improvements and outfitting of the existing workshop, works to improve the condition of stations and renovate the track, and obtaining technical support for the inspection, commissioning and operation of the new trains.

This final task is the one undertaken by Ineco for Renfe, which worked with its Kenyan counterpart –Kenya Railways– and the overall authority for Nairobi’s commuter network, NAMATA (Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority), on the acquisition of rolling stock in Spain, also including the supply of spare parts and staff training. With the support of Spain’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (via ICEX) and Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Kenya signed a contract in 2019 with SFM (Mallorca Rail Services) for the purchase of 11 diesel twin units and one trailer. Specifically, the units are Series 6100 units manufactured by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) in the period 1994-2003, of which the first batch of five units has already been shipped to Kenya.

The units, which were withdrawn from service by SFM following the completion of the electrification of its network, have been reconditioned to extend their useful life by at least 25 years. Ineco carried out the pre-shipping inspection of the units, which departed from the port of Barcelona. Inspection included verification of the list of spare parts requested by Kenya Railways for maintenance of the fleet and checking the condition of the spare parts; inspection and recording the results of static and on-track tests carried out by SFM; visual and documentary review of the units and the reconfiguration of the Automatic Train Stop system (ATS) to factory settings, following the static and on-track tests.

CAF’s Series 6100 trains are equipped with two Cumins NTA-855-A diesel engines, one at each end, compressed air brakes and double doors on both sides. They can reach a top speed of 110 km/h. They measure 15.5 metres in length, 3.7 metres high and 2.5 metres wide and have a maximum capacity of 252 passengers: 156 standing and 96 seated. They have space for bicycles and door-closing warning alarms. A total of 52 were manufactured. They first entered service on the rail network in Mallorca in June 1995. They were retired progressively as the network was electrified and ran on the island for the last time in May 2019. In 2015, SFM sold 12 units to the French railways. In their new home in Kenya, the units will cover various routes from Nairobi to Syokimau, Embakasi, Thika, Kikuyu and Kitengela.

Apps that predict the location of traffic jams; optimised street lighting and irrigation for green spaces; train stations that communicate with taxi and bike operators; smart airports that recognise passengers; and digitalised ports that connect ships to the power grid to reduce their engine emissions… The functionalities provided by artificial intelligence, Big Data and robotics are already a reality that is transforming the mobility of our cities, which, according to the UN, are home to 55% of the world’s population. The goal is to exploit all of our technological resources to make them more efficient and, above all, more sustainable and environmentally-friendly.

With this in mind, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) convened the tenth session of the World Urban Forum, which was hosted by the emirate of Abu Dhabi from the 8 to 13 February 2020. A group of businesses backed by the Ministry for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda together operated a 100m² stand at the event: Adif, Aena, Puertos del Estado, Renfe and Ineco were among those in attendance to present their proposals for more sustainable, inclusive, safe and resilient cities.

The forum, under the motto of Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation, is the principal international stage for debating and sharing experiences related to urban issues

At the forum, the Spanish government also presented Spain’s Urban Agenda, the result of its commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Agenda, approved in 2019, is a roadmap that aims to guide all of Spain’s towns and cities, regardless of their size, towards a more economically, socially and environmentally equitable, integrated and sustainable future by the year 2030. The Agenda offers a Decalogue of Strategic Goals, which, in turn, feature a total of 30 specific goals and 291 lines of action.

The forum, under the motto of ‘Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation’, is the principal international stage for debating and sharing experiences related to urban issues The event was attended by more than 18,000 delegates from approximately 170 countries, representing mostly institutions, ranging from national and local governments, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and the academic world.

One of the organisations in attendance was Spanish railway operator Renfe. The rail operator, which presented the Haramain project at the stand, is working on its new ‘mobility as a service’, ‘Renfe as a Service (RaaS)’ platform back in Spain. The platform aims to integrate different modes of both public and private transport into one single application.

In addition, Puertos del Estado, which comprises and coordinates the 28 port authorities in charge of Spain’s 46 ports, presented its Ports 4.0 project. The Ports 4.0 project establishes an equity fund to finance innovative projects in new technologies and business models based on the 4.0 economy, via a public requests for tenders.

In the aviation sector, Spanish airport operator Aena is focusing on the concept of smart airports: its lines of action include a pilot project for biometric technology and digital identity (facial recognition) at its Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport and its airport in Menorca, as well as testing drones for different uses within the airport environment.

Adif, Spain’s railway infrastructure administrator, has activated a plan to digitalise its network of long-distance and AVE train stations, aiming to convert them into ‘intelligent stations’ that will connect to other transport systems and different city services. 

Smart projects from Ineco

Cityneco: LAUNCHED IN GRANADA

The Director of Ineco, José Ángel Higueras, (first from the right) presents the Cityneco model to the Ministry of Transport’s Deputy Director of Urban Policy, Ángela de la Cruz (centre). / PHOTO_INECO + LUMIERE ADVERTISERS

Ineco demonstrated its Cityneco Mobility model at the stand. The model city, constructed from Lego pieces, allowed delegates to observe the functions of its Cityneco platform through its augmented reality application. The company developed the technology platform for the smart management of different urban services in 2016, as part of an innovation project in which it partnered with the Granada City Council to pilot the platform in the city. The platform has since been updated to a new version 2.0.

Specifically designed to facilitate mobility, the model’s modular architecture and layered structure make it easily scalable and interoperable. A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) version makes Cityneco available to medium-sized cities without their own infrastructure.

A visitor tests virtual reality glasses. / PHOTO_INECO + LUMIERE ADVERTISERS

The platform features several vertical modules, one for each of a local council or organisation’s management areas. Its modular architecture facilitates the incorporation of new vertical levels to adapt to new requirements. Its IoT functionality (the Internet of Things), allows it to connect to sensors located throughout the city while simultaneously integrating and processing multiple sources of information, from social networks to video feed.

The information is displayed simply and intuitively through dashboards, based on both real-time data and management indicators, and in the case of mobility, with a GIS viewer (Geographical Information System).

A connected campus for the University of Almería

The University of Almería (UAL), founded in 1993, is not the first Spanish university to introduce smart-management projects for its services and infrastructure, but it is the first to have a Master Plan for their implementation, which it asked Ineco to design. With a few methodological adjustments, the document incorporates smart-management proposals similar to those that would be applied to a small city.

The work, which was carried out over the course of 2019, includes a model for a smart campus, a diagnosis of the University’s current state of technological or smart development, the objective to be achieved and a roadmap of necessary actions.

View of the UAL campus. / PHOTO_UAL

At just over five kilometres east of the city of Almería and a few meters from the sea, the UAL is a small to medium-sized public university situated very close to the Natural Park of Cabo de Gata-Níjar. Despite being located in a water-deficient province, the university benefits from abundant sunshine and regular winds that it can use to obtain clean energy. The plan, therefore, concentrates on environmental initiatives to create a green smart-campus with particular emphasis placed on optimising its water and energy consumption. Given its location outside of the city centre, which makes access on foot difficult and generates high levels of private vehicle use, another priority is to improve the university’s mobility framework.

The UAL is the first Spanish university to have a Master Plan for the implementation of SMART-MANAGEMENT initiatives thanks to Ineco

In total, the plan covers 21 services, grouped in nine sub-areas: urban environment (maintenance and irrigation of gardens, air quality, noise and light pollution), waste management (cleaning roads and buildings, and waste collection), energy (electricity and gas consumption in buildings, public lighting, clean energy generation), water (water consumption and quality, sanitation and sewage network management), parking (car park management), traffic control (vehicle influx, internal bicycle and scooter traffic, charging points for electric vehicles, information on modes of transport), accessibility, public infrastructure and urban equipment, (management and maintenance, incident detection) and an innovation ecosystem.

Below: bicycles parked in front of lecture theatre IV; promoting sustainable mobility is a cornerstone of the plan. / PHOTO_UAL

In order to establish the current technological advancement of the services, six levels were defined: basic, initiation (UAL’s current level) intermediate, advanced, very advanced and connected. The objective is to reach the ‘connected’ level, which specifies that at least 80% of the services must be interconnected.

The Master Plan includes indicators to measure UAL’s smart progress and establishes a Steering and Coordination Committee and a Monitoring Committee, as well as suggesting a two-yearly revision of the document to keep it up to date.

The Granada railway station is located in the Los Pajaritos neighbourhood, inside the ring road formed by Avenida de la Constitución, Camino de Ronda and Avenida de Fuente Nueva. Since 2015, the station has been undergoing a major refurbishment to enable it to accommodate the arrival of the Madrid-Córdoba-Granada high-speed line. The works have included redevelopment of the forecourt and surrounding area, enlargement of the station including the construction of a new building, new platforms, expansion of the car park and refurbishment of the existing passenger building, which was built at the beginning of the twentieth century. One of its side areas in the east wing has been renovated to create an innovative Renfe Space to house the company’s Sales Channel, Service Centre and Atendo service.

The idea behind the project was to design a single open area to provide passengers with service in different zones, but all part of a common space. The interior volume, which does not reach the ceiling, defines the different uses of the space, separating the Atendo area located next to the entrance and the Service Centre, and leaving the Sales Channel area at the back defined by a Renfe corporate panel.

An interplay of lights

The suspended ceiling creates a taller island in the single space, an interplay that gives it certain fluidity, and in which the different kinds of lighting highlight the common area, different service areas and each of the counters, framed by alcoves featuring Renfe’s corporate image.

The side that overlooks the platforms was conceived as an interior façade where the waiting area is located, maintaining the existing gaps that frame the views of the platforms, and with areas of the building’s exposed brickwork.

This Renfe Space combines technology and innovation. It includes a queue management system for the available services with multiple options for users to take their turn for ticket sales or customer service, depending on their needs. The system is linked to Renfe’s image and advertising management system, as well as to the public address and lighting of the service points, which provide information to users who require assistance.

An open space designed with separate areas and equipped with service points for people with disabilities, each with a magnetic induction loop for people with impaired hearing

Another built-in system is the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) which makes it possible to adapt the lighting to the number of people in the space and the time of day, with 3 possible configurations: day, night and semi-night. Each of the areas also has a service point for people with disabilities, which includes a magnetic induction loop for people with impaired hearing.  The latter consists of a communication system for hearing-aid users. The magnetic loop reduces background noise significantly, thus improving intelligibility. The result is that the user receives clear sound with the proper volume.

The Granada Renfe Space combines the essence of the station with innovation, enabling the accessibility and integration of all of the users of the station’s services. It will operate every day from 6:15 am to 11:30 pm.

This project paves the way for other locations such as the future Renfe Space in the Vigo-Urzáis station.

On 25 June, the new AVE high-speed line between Madrid and Granada officially opened with an inaugural journey attended by the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez (in the centre of the image), the acting minister of Public Works, José Luis Ábalos, the president of Adif, Isabel Pardo de Vera (right), the president of Renfe, Isaías Taboas, and the secretary of state for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, Pedro Saura, (left), among other guests and dignitaries.

Commercial operation began the following day, on 26 June, with three services in each direction between Granada and Madrid, a distance of 568 km and with a maximum travelling time of 3 hours 19 minutes. A daily service has also been established between Granada and Barcelona with a travelling time of 6 hours 25 minutes. All services stop in Cordoba.

The new high-speed line has three stations, in Antequera, Loja and Granada, and is equipped with ERTMS level 2 and GSM-R mobile communications (see report on page 10).

From left to right: The presidents of Adif and Ineco, Isabel Pardo and Carmen Librero, with Pedro Ruiz, Moisés Gilaberte and Laura López, from Ineco.