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

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

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

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

Safety requirements in Spain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nowadays, air traffic controllers and pilots need to send and receive accurate and reliable information in order to operate safely. To do so, they use communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems. These systems work by transmitting and receiving suitably modulated radio frequency signals that propagate by spatial wave, that is, by direct line of sight between transmitter and receiver, in order to track the position of aircraft and to guide or direct their movement from one point to another in a safe, smooth and efficient manner. The information provided by these systems is therefore essential for the design of flight procedures, which establish the trajectory that aircraft must follow in order to avoid collision with each other or with any element in the environment.

However, the presence of obstacles on the ground in the vicinity of such equipment can cause signal fading or amplification, and, in general, overlaps and distortions in the information transmitted. In recent decades, these effects are becoming more pronounced, as increasing urban and industrial development is taking place in airport environments, leading to the emergence of high obstacle densities in the vicinity of CNS systems.

Automating data entry saves time, improves efficiency and reduces the possibility of human error

Simulation studies to assess impact on radio systems analyse the disturbances that physical obstacles can cause in radio wave transmission. Their analyses are vital for air navigation because they enable identification of those that are incompatible with the proper functioning and/or performance of the systems, ensuring that aircraft take-off, flight and landing operations are carried out correctly. Ineco boasts a long list of national and international simulation projects to assess effects on CNS radio systems, with more than three thousand studies done.

It is from within this context that the main motivation for this innovation project, developed in 2020, arises. Engineering specialists need software tools to assess the impact of obstacles and terrain on the performance of these systems in a quantitative manner that is as close to reality as possible, enabling them to evaluate key aspects of the design of flight procedures, such as the coverage and signal quality of CNS equipment.

In particular, to assess the impact on pulsed systems, Ineco developed the Impulse tool (currently integrated into Navtools), which, as a first approach to this problem, was capable of carrying out a qualitative analysis of the impact on primary and secondary surveillance radars, and DME equipment.

In the new innovation project developed at Ineco, which will have a final version from the first quarter of 2021, a major step forward has been taken by replacing the initial qualitative studies with quantitative studies modelling the real signals emitted by equipment and aircraft for primary and secondary surveillance radars and for DME (Distance Measuring Equipment). In this way, by considering real radiation patterns, encoding and decoding the pulses and taking into account multipath effects caused by terrain and obstacles in the environment, it is possible to carry out much more precise and detailed studies than those carried out so far (qualitative analysis only). New functionalities have also been incorporated in DME stations, such as the calculation of the distance error committed, power losses, system decoupling, etc. The implementation of all these new functionalities makes it possible to address studies that until now could not be undertaken analytically and were resolved qualitatively or by expert judgement. Likewise, having such a powerful tool in air navigation for the study of pulsed systems strongly positions Ineco both in the national and international market when carrying out aeronautical safety studies, radioelectric impact studies or procedure design.

When the goal is your well-being

The health crisis has tested the entire company, especially those responsible for health and safety, who have had to ensure that workplaces and work-related travel are COVID-safe, putting appropriate measures in place wherever Ineco operates. To prevent the infection and the spread of SARS-CoV-2, escalation and de-escalation scenarios have been established in each country and, above all, for different client needs.

“The health crisis is forcing us to adapt continuously to the new reality in each of the countries in which we operate” Luis Janeiro, Deputy Director of Administration, Labour Relations and Safety at Ineco

The team is made up of experts in occupational health and safety, as it relates to Safety at Work, Industrial Hygiene, Ergonomics and Psycho-Sociology and Occupational Health. Over these last few months the team has implemented a number of workplace protocols and measures that, thanks to the cooperation of all staff, have been successful in keeping the level of the disease below 2.4% of the workforce.

To manage the return to in-person work, Ineco has developed a strategic consulting solution based on technology and data exploitation, through BIM tools, to define safety distances in workstations, common areas or traffic areas. GIS is also being used to monitor movements in real time, among others.