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The units, which were withdrawn from service by SFM following the completion of the electrification of its network, have been reconditioned to extend their useful life by at least 25 years.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.

For Dr. Jorge Yunda, Mayor of Quito, the city’s first metro line is more than just emblematic infrastructure; it’s “an excellent opportunity for people to change the way they relate to each other”. The city’s authorities hope the new mass transport system will consolidate ‘Metro culture’. They also believe it will improve quality of life by saving time for residents, enabling them to be more supportive of one another, and allowing them to breathe cleaner air by reducing the thousands of tons of CO₂ they currently release into the atmosphere.

More than 400,000 people will benefit from the new sustainable transport system every day

With just a few months to go until its opening, Line 1 of Quito’s publicly-owned Empresa Metropolitana de Metro de Quito will be completely underground, have 22 kilometres of track built with cutting-edge technology and will be equipped with modern trains manufactured by the Spanish company CAF in the north of Spain. The line will have 15 stations stretching from the El Labrador station at the south terminal station of the old airport to the Quitumbe station south of the city, and a total travel time of 34 minutes. Four hundred thousand people are expected to use the new infrastructure every day.

The success of the Medellín Metro prompted representatives of Metro de Quito to sign a rail transport cooperation agreement with the Empresa de Transporte Masivo del Valle de Aburrá Limitada-Metro de Medellín (the Valle de Aburrá Limited-Medellín Metro Mass Transit Company). The agreement provides a framework for joint contribution, knowledge transfer and work in different areas related to the metro’s operation. Similarly, in August 2019, a cooperation agreement was also signed between the Central University of Ecuador and Metro de Quito. The ambitious construction project is supported by the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the European Investment Bank.

SUPPLYING THE TRAIN UNITS. Ineco has experience in provisioning many different types of large equipment projects, such as the construction of new EMUs, DMUs and locomotives, overhauling rail stock, freight cars, auxiliary equipment such as draisines, specialised infrastructure maintenance vehicles and on-board equipment.

Thirty years of experience

Just as it did with the trains built by CAF for Metro de Medellín Metro, at the start of 2017 Ineco began supervising the complete rolling stock acquisition process for the Empresa Pública Metropolitana Metro de Quito (EPMMQ – the Quito Metro Metropolitan Public Enterprise). The order included 18 trains with six cars each, plus auxiliary vehicles, equipment and tools for the depot, and spare parts. The railway experts from the Spanish engineering firm provided technical supervision and management of the design, build and tune-up of the trains, a task that involves monitoring compliance with production deadlines, the issuing of deliveries in running order, and ensuring maximum consistency throughout the design, manufacturing and factory testing processes.

The company’s extensive experience in supervising the design, manufacture and commissioning of all types of rolling stock, comes from its work dating back to the 90s in Spain, as well as its contributions to metro and commuter trains abroad, in the cities of São Paulo, Medellín and Santiago de Chile. Ineco’s qualified personnel and exhaustive knowledge of regulatory issues have made the company a household name in the world of railway rolling stock.

COMPREHENSIVE BUILD SUPERVISION. Metro de Quito commissioned Ineco, as a company specialised in subway-type rail transport systems, to supervise, evaluate and ensure full contract compliance throughout the stages of design, manufacture, transport and at tune-up at the final destination.

A long and painstaking process

The Ineco division responsible for the supervision of the design of the rolling-stock, which has an operating life span of 35 years, oversaw the process from the company’s Madrid office. Meanwhile, specialists from the company’s leading teams were present for approval tests carried out on-site at the installations of each of the main train equipment suppliers (in South Korea, China, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Finland, Portugal and Spain).

Ineco inspectors supervised train manufacture and assembly at CAF’s manufacturing plants

Build supervision, train unit assembly and factory tests were completed in the presence of inspectors at CAF’s manufacturing plants in Irún, Beasain and Castejón. The acceptance phase for the trains, auxiliary vehicles, depot equipment and spare parts took place at EPMMQ’s installations in Quito.

Ineco also provided technical assistance to FEEP (the Ecuadorian Public Railway Company) by inspecting three TD2000BB locomotives supplied by Euskotren, to verify their suitability to the track and traction conditions of the country’s lines.

The São Paulo Metropolitan Railway Company CPTM, a company linked to the Secretariat of Metropolitan Transport of the State of São Paulo (STM), is continuing with its project to expand the city’s Line 13, known as Jade, a 12.2-kilometre route that will connect the city centre with Guarulhos International Airport and is expected to carry 130,000 passengers every weekday. The Chinese-Brazilian consortium Temoinsa-Sifang is manufacturing eight new trains for this line which are specially designed with extra space for transporting the luggage of future users. The manufacture in China and the delivery and assembly of the trains is being carried out under the supervision of the CS8T Spanish-Brazilian consortium made up of Ineco, Ineco do Brasil, EBEI and MetroEng.

The rolling stock, which is being manufactured at CRRC Sifang’s facilities, was purchased by the State Government of São Paulo in September 2017 for 316.7 million reales with 85 million euros of financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB). With each train equipped with eight carriages, this fleet will provide shuttle services between São Paulo’s International Airport, the largest in Latin America, and the city of São Paulo.

In January 2019, a team of Ineco technicians travelled to the facilities of CRRC Sifang –a public railway manufacturer based in Qingdao, China– to oversee the delivery of the first train in the 2500 series. The rolling stock is very much in line with the latest acquisitions of STM/CPTM, which feature distributed traction and steel boxes, and complementing the recent deliveries of 30 Hyundai trains and 35 trains from the Spanish company CAF, both also financed by the EIB. This will give CPTM a more modern and versatile fleet, which will be put into service over the next two years. After disembarking at the Port of Santos, the new rolling stock is transported by road to CPTM’s facilities for dynamic track testing.

The assembly of the eight trains in CRRC Sifang’s factory is slated for completion in the first months of 2020, and CPTM will then continue with the acceptance and commissioning of the vehicles, which must be completed by the beginning of 2022.

The work of the CS8T Consortium includes reviewing the vehicle design and supervising static and dynamic testing, which will be ongoing both at the factory and on the track until the trains are put into service. To this end, Ineco technicians are carrying out manufacturing inspection activities at CRRC Sifang’s facilities and static and dynamic testing both at the factory in Qingdao and at CPTM’s facilities in Presidente Altino, São Paulo. A team of technicians from Ineco has also carried out a design review from its offices in Spain.

The supervisors have to make sure from the outset that the assembled rolling stock meets the technical specifications and needs of CPTM. They also need to have a detailed knowledge of international and Brazilian railway regulations, as well as the regulations that apply to each of the main and auxiliary elements of the structure –boxes, axles, wheels, etc.– equipment and systems: traction, braking, train safety, passenger information, driving, emergency, etc. The supervision process must guarantee reliability and the technical compatibility of all elements.

Ineco has extensive expertise in this field, as well as professionals with specific knowledge of each of the components that make it possible for a train to operate safely and comfortably for users. This experience extends to all varieties of rolling stock from all suppliers: Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Siemens, etc.

Although some elements and processes of rolling stock manufacturing involve mass production, no two orders are the same: each design, operator and railway network has its own individual characteristics, even if the supplier is the same. In addition to this, there is the fact that the many components and systems a train is equipped with, from the air conditioning to the brakes or the traction, are produced by different companies. These must be integrated into the design produced by the manufacturer, who delivers the rolling stock to the operators who will put it into circulation.

A high-speed train has very different features and characteristics than a tram, a commuter train or a freight train. Even so, what they all have in common is that they require experts to validate the design and to supervise the different tests (static and dynamic) that are carried out, both at the factory and on tracks, up until the train’s entry into service. The supervisors must assure from the very beginning that the rolling stock being assembled meets technical specifications and is adapted to the needs of the end client. This is the reason for the fundamental importance of validating the initial design.

They must also have detailed knowledge of international railway regulations, as well as those of the particular countries concerned. Supervisors must also be familiar with standards that apply to the main and auxiliary elements, both structural elements (body, axles, wheels, etc.) and equipment and systems (traction, brakes, train safety system, passenger information system, conduction system, emergency system, etc.). The supervision process must guarantee the reliability and technical compatibility of all these elements.

All types of trains require experts to validate designs and supervise the different tests carried out up until their entry into service

Ineco has extensive experience in this field, with professionals whose specific knowledge of each component make it possible for trains to be functional, safe and comfortable for users. This experience covers all types of rolling stock from all suppliers: CAF, Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier, etc. In the case of new railway projects, clients may also require technical assistance prior to the purchase of rolling stock. In 2012, Ineco collaborated with the Santiago de Chile Metro in preparing technical specifications for public tenders and in assessing bids for the modernisation of its fleet.

In Spain, the company has over 20 years’ experience in this area, having supervised over 200 high speed and over 750 conventional trains, 290 locomotives and around 75 metro trains and trams, as well as 1,400 freight wagons. Noteworthy projects abroad include numerous works carried out in Brazil for CAF and Alstom (suppliers to the Compañía Paulista de Trenes Metropolitanos, CPTM), in Colombia, where the Medellín Metro is renewing its fleet with new CAF units, and in Ecuador, which has purchased rolling stock from the old Feve or Euskotren for its railway network, for which it launched renovation works in 2008.

The tasks of design validation, review and supervision are applicable not only to new rolling stock, but also when updating operational units that require modernisation. This is the case with the forty-nine NS74 trains manufactured by Alstom for the Santiago de Chile Metro in the 1970s. Ineco is providing technical assistance for the detailed engineering and design for the process of modernising the fleet, working in conjunction with Alstom engineers in Spain.

The same is true with second-hand or surplus rolling stock which is sold on to another operator (generally abroad) and needs to be adapted. This was the case with the three new TD 2000 series locomotives manufactured in Spain in 2006 by the company Ingeteam, which were surplus to the requirements of the Basque operator Euskotren. The machines, accompanied by fifteen 3,500 series trailer cars (with no additional costs), were acquired by Ecuador’s railway network for its star product, the Tren Crucero (‘Cruise Train’) tourist line between Durán and Quito. Ineco, which also carried out the original testing for Euskotren, supervised the tune-up of the units for their new function, which is very different than their original intended use in a freight project.

For that reason, the machines have a powerful electro-diesel dual-mode traction system, large loading capacity and efficient braking systems. Their sturdiness and power make them very suitable for their new destination, as the ‘Cruise Train’ is a 450 kilometres of unelectrified line running through a mountainous region known as the ‘Avenue of Volcanoes’, where it reaches altitudes of over 3,600 metres. For that reason, the locomotives will only use diesel traction. In addition, the units required modification to travel on the Ecuadorian network, where the gauge is 1,067 millimetres, compared to the 1,000 millimetre gauge for which they were originally designed.

Works for the Medellín Metro

With a population of 2.4 million, Medellín is Colombia’s second city. In 2004, it pioneered the use of cable cars as a means of public transport, and now other cities have followed its lead: São Paulo in Brazil, capitals such as Bogotá (Colombia) and Quito (Ecuador), for which Ineco is producing a feasibility study, La Paz in Bolivia, etc. A dynamic city with difficult orography (it sits in a narrow valley, 1,300 metres above sea level), Medellín has invested in public transport as another element of social integration (the ‘metrocable’ lines serve the city’s least privileged neighbourhoods, or comunas) and sustainability: buses run on natural gas, all metros and trams use electric traction and a public bicycle system has been installed at stations. Mobility in the city and its metropolitan area is in constant growth, increasing road congestion and the use of public transport in its various forms: buses (MetroPlús, large-capacity buses that run on natural gas, the SIT or Integrated Transport System, and minibuses), trams, the cable car or metrocable, free public bicycles (EnCicla) and the over ground metro.

Metro de Medellín, a public company owned by Medellín city hall and the regional government of the department of Antioquia, is responsible for managing the network, which comprises two conventional metro lines, two metrocable lines (with two more to be added soon) and the Ayacucho tram line, opened in October 2015.
Having been in operation for 20 years, the company is now renewing its fleet; this has involved the purchase of new trains from the Spanish company CAF. In 2011, Ineco was commissioned to supervise the design and manufacturing of the trains, as well as their testing in the factory and on tracks and the subsequent entry into service of the initial batch of 13 three-car trains, equipped with the latest technology. In 2015, the company supervised a second batch of another 3 units as well as the on-board signalling equipment (ATC) for 26 drivers’ cabs. With the new CAF trains (20 in total), Metro de Medellín plans to increase transport capacity by 36 %, which will translate into reduced congestion at peak times.
In addition to this work, Ineco has carried out other projects for Metro de Medellín, such as feasibility studies for the recovery of the old Antioquia railway, renamed the ‘Valle de Aburrá Multi-purpose Railway System’. The project consists in renovating 80 kilometres of disused track for the transport of passengers and urban waste through the Aburrá Valley. The valley, created by the basin of the river Medellín, is a narrow stretch of land in the centre of the region of Antioquia and has seen intense urban development. In addition to the city of Medellín there are a further 10 municipalities, constituting an urban area with a population of over 3.3 million. For that reason, Medellín’s public transport system is designed as a multimodal network named the Valle de Aburrá Integrated Transport System (SITVA, for its Spanish initials) with stations that allow passenger to change mode of transport (for example, from tram to cable car, bus to metro or metro to bicycle). In 2010, Metro de Medellín implemented a metro and metrocable traffic control system based on Adif’s Da Vinci platform, developed by Indra. Two years later, it also incorporated Metroplús buses, Ineco took responsibility in this in the supervision and technical management of the extension of the system, which enables any incidents in the service to be managed and handled in real time.

Medellin Metro facilities.