This is one of the oldest and most complex railway lines in Spain. At a length of 217 kilometres and used for mixed traffic (passengers and freight), it was electrified in 1951 and retains its original track layout and geometry, with extremely sharp curve radii and steep gradients that limit maximum speed. A century and a half after its construction, which was a colossal technical challenge since it had to pass through the Cantabrian Mountains, it is still a strategic rail connection between the Meseta Central and the Cantabrian coast.

Construction on the line began in 1850 and its purpose was to transport grain from the fields of Castilla to the Port of Santander, where it would be shipped to Britain. Today, it is an essential corridor for the Spanish automotive industry because it connects the four factories that Renault, Iveco and Nissan have in Castilla y León to the Port of Santander, which specialises in the shipping of vehicles. Before the works, the line could only handle freight trains with a maximum length of 450 or 500 metres. The construction of two 750-metre-long freight train sidings at Muriedas and Guarnizo stations represents a substantial improvement in transport capacity.

But the Palencia-Santander line is not just an important freight corridor: almost half of its route –the section between Reinosa and Santander, featuring 26 stations–, makes up Line 1 of the region’s Commuter network, a hub that is completed by two Renfe Feve lines (in metric width or narrow gauge).  Within this section, in which Iberian-gauge commuter lines are operated, the works will involve duplication of the Torrelavega-Santander sub-section, for which Ineco has drafted the projects, improvement of accessibility to stations and sidings, and the removal of level crossings.

The Palencia-Santander line is not just an important freight corridor: almost half of its route makes up Line 1 of the region’s Commuter network

In recent years, the line’s speed and capacity restrictions have caused issues regarding regularity, quality and reliability of a service used by almost 700,000 passengers a year. The renovation works have improved the safety and comfort of passengers and reduced travelling times.

Miguel Solana, works coordinator in Cantabria, at Santander station.

Improvements between Torrelavega and Santander

In addition to the comprehensive renovation, Adif is undertaking another important project: works to widen track on a vital section of the line which connects Torrelavega and Santander. It is a 29.5-kilometre stretch that makes up Line C1 of the Commuter network and runs through the municipalities of Torrelavega, Piélagos, Astillero, Camargo and Santander. Overall, the project will increase the traffic capacity of the line in this section, thus reducing travelling times.

Track duplication of the C1 commuter rail line between Torrelavega and Santander.

Ineco began work on the duplication projects at the end of 2015 and they are expected to be completed in 2019. The first step involved carrying out a financial and capacity analysis of traffic and user volume, as well as an environmental impact study. The basic project and later, the construction projects, were also drafted. In addition to duplication of the track, other actions will be included:

• Removal of level crossings and their replacement with six new crossings at different levels.
• Improvement of stations and stops: raising of platforms, renovation of canopies, installation of lifts, new shelters and underpasses at the stations of Torrelavega, Renedo, Guarnizo and Boo, and the stops of Sierrapando, Zurita, Vioño, Parbayón, Maliaño, Muriedas-Bahía, Nueva Montaña and Valdecilla.
• Works to adapt electrification and safety and communications facilities.
• Installation of acoustic screens: according to the results of a study carried out along the route, the Environmental Impact Statement provides for the installation of acoustic protection screens on various sections of the line.
• Adaptation of low and high crossings and bridges.
• Line enclosure, replacement of affected services and adaptation of cross drainage.

Madrid-Santander in three hours

Preliminary study for a high-performance line produced by Ineco for Adif in relation to the section between Palencia and Alar del Rey.

In October, the Minister of Public Works, José Luis Ábalos, pledged that Madrid and Santander would be connected by 2024 with a journey time of around three hours and stressed that the train would stop in Reinosa and Torrelavega. After his meeting with the president of Cantabria, Miguel Angel Revilla, the minister affirmed that to make this connection a reality “all of the projects that affect the new high-speed line between Palencia and Reinosa will be drafted by 2019,” and that the intention is to “make public all other sections in what remains of the legislature.”

In parallel with all of the actions mentioned above, the Ministry of Public Works has designed a new high-performance standard-gauge line between Palencia and Alar del Rey, for which Ineco drafted the preliminary study in 2016 (see plan above). In January 2018, the project obtained its Environmental Impact Statement and, in March, Adif Alta Velocidad announced the tendering of four contracts for the drafting of the basic and construction projects of the platform on the four sections into which the route has been divided: Palencia-Amusco, Amusco-Osorno, Osorno-Calahorra de Boedo and Calahorra de Boedo-Alar del Rey.

The station in Santander and its surrounding area will undergo a major transformation when it carries out the planned railway integration actions, for which Ineco is drafting the construction projects for the reorganisation of the station’s spaces. These actions are included in a collaboration agreement signed in October 2018 by Santander City Council, the Cantabria Regional Government and Adif.

Santander station is a terminal railway station located in the Spanish city of Santander. It was opened in 1943 by Renfe following a project by the architect Luis Gutiérrez Soto and engineer Carlos Fernández Casado. In 2010, its rail services, which include long and medium-distance and commuter network, were used by around 850,000 passengers. It is located in Plaza de las Estaciones, near the city centre. Next to this Adif-owned station is the Renfe Feve station through which trains that travel on the narrow-gauge network run.

Recently, improvement works on the Muriedas railway terminal and its connection to the Port of Santander were put out to tender, with project financing from the Port Land Accessibility Fund.

“To create a unique symbol for each place”

Bruce Fairbanks, founder of Fairbanks Arquitectos, has accumulated extensive experience in the design of airport buildings since 1996 when he won the tender for the construction of the Madrid-Barajas control tower.

Presently in the world of airports there is a trend to promote the control tower as a symbol, an image that represents the airport and a reference point for the arrival in, and departure from the city where it is located. This trend has created increased interest in architectural execution in the design of control towers in addition to their functional requirements. It is precisely the individuality of these requirements that significantly affects the type of building, such that throughout history there are various examples of “types” of tower designs, which, once designed, were repeated in various airports: one notable case is the leoh Ming Pei control tower. It was designed between 1962 and 1965 with the objective implementation in 70 airports, although in the end 16 were built. The concept of locating in upper levels strictly that which was necessary was developed, putting the maximum amount of functions in the base building, which was adapted to the specific characteristics of each location. As such, the tower could be prefabricated and repeated with standardised equipment, giving the airport network an image of safety since a controller could work in any location without having to adapt. The tower was designed with 5 standardised heights (18-46 m) in accordance with visibility requirements in each location. The control tower’s cab is pentagonal so there are no parallel façades and so as to avoid reflections. In Spain, in the 1970s, Juan Montero Romero, an aeronautical engineer, built a tower, which was repeated in several cities: Málaga, Alicante, Valencia, etc.

To create a landmark, the architect must find within the functionality the characteristics that distinguish one tower from others

Converting control towers into airport landmarks and reference points for cities is a challenge in the work of an architect: creating a symbol, always unique for each location, which meets all of the requirements for the optimal functioning of the tower. The location, the height of the control room, its form and the layout of its structural elements are some of the first elements to define. Control towers typically have a base building and a shaft that supports the upper floors, which are designed to adapt to the control operations. Given the form, with an upper part and a lower part and the height of the type of building, in my opinion it is essential to incorporate the construction process into the design of the tower, and this is what I have done in those which I have designed. This design comes from an analysis of the functional aspects, the programme and the location. To create a landmark, the architect must find within the functionality the characteristics that can distinguish one tower from others and strengthen them to create a unique tower with its own character in each case.

Analysis of four cases

The following examples of control towers show diferente conceptual approaches to design this building type and the elements that diversify its design.

1962. Dulles airport, Washington DC
Eero Saarinen

The Dulles tower has all of the equipment rooms at a height, elegantly assembled by Saarinen with two juxtaposed bodies. The form of the tower is integrated with that of the terminal building, also designed by the same architect.

1992. JFK airport, Nueva York
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

The upper part of the JFK tower, 97.5 metres in height, contains only the aerodrome control cab and half way up the shaft there is the platform control room, which takes the same form as the upper levels.

1997. Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport
Bruce Fairbanks

The Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas control tower had the specific feature of a 400 m² equipment room located at a height. To resolve the transition between the shaft of the tower and the projection, an inverted half sphere was adopted, with a floor for air conditioning equipment being inserted in the support. The octagonal shape defined for the
cab is extended throughout the top of the building, the structural design of a central column and 8 perimeter columns is repeated on all levels.

Another particular feature of the tower is the construction system designed as an integral part of the design. The shaft is built with prefabricated segments assembled in spirals, which, on the inside, contain the service ducts and circumscribe the emergency stairway. The upper floors were built with a metallic structure on the floor and subsequently hoisted onto the shaft. The system allowed the tower to be built in nine months, without using scaffolding.

2004. Barcelona-El Prat airport
Bruce Fairbanks

The functional requirements were similar to those of Barajas, with the exception that a large part of the equipment is located in the base building. The resistant structure is defined independently from the functional elements of the shaft, which was developed as a representative design element. An eight-pointed hyperbola generated from the octagonal shape of the cab holds the upper floors.

The hyperbola links the tower with Catalan Modernism and Antoni Gaudí, who used this form in many of his designs, including on the domes of the Sagrada Familia. The construction system is a representative part of his design. The assembly of the hyperbola, built with prefabricated concrete girders, was guided by a central aluminium structure designed to contain the elements of the shaft. The upper floors were built on land and hoisted into position, supported by the eight points of the hyperbola, consolidating the whole structure when it was under load.

“In the future, it will not be necessary to view operations”

Roberto Serrano has participated in more than 50 aeronautical projects, amongst them, the NET and SAT control towers of Madrid-Barajas airport and the new control tower of Eldorado airport (Bogotá).

Although the first control towers date back to the 1920s (in 1921, Croydon airport in London was the first in the world to introduce air traffic control), it was from the 1930s that they became commonplace, due to the fact that growing aircraft traffic made controlling and managing it necessary. At that time, in which technology was nothing like the current systems, the need to visually supervise aeronautical operations around the airport was met by placing the control room (cab) in an elevated and predominant position of the airport (control tower).

To date, the first steps in designing a control tower involve establishing its site and the height of the cab. Internationally, to meet the viewing requirements from the cab, the recommendations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are applied. The optimum height and location of a control tower is the result of weighing up many considerations. The view from the cab requires the air traffic controller to be able to distinguish the aircraft and vehicles that circulate in the manoeuvring area, as well as aircraft that fly over the airport, particularly in take-off and landing paths. The objective is to have the maximum visibility possible and avoid the sun, external light sources and reflections from adjacent buildings affecting the visibility of the controller.

Nowadays, technology allows a practically blind landing

With regard to the location, we must consider the potential effects of local weather: flood areas or areas susceptible to fog. Its compatibility with the potential future development of the airport must also be studied, thereby avoiding the need to relocate the tower before the end of its life cycle. Insofar as possible, the tower and its buildings should be located on the landside of the airport, thus avoiding access through the airfield and facilitating the entry of staff. Furthermore, the location should be such that it does not affect the quality of the signals of the airport’s radio navigation aids (ILS, VOR, DME, etc.), or communication systems. The minimum height required for the control tower can be obtained with the aid of the FAA visibility analysis tool, ATCTVAT (Airport Traffic Control Tower Visibility Analysis Tool), in accordance with the physical conditions of the airport.

Once the position and height has been determined, the infrastructure is designed, and generally includes a cab and an antenna field, which, located on the roof of the cab, normally has communications antennas, radio relays, and other electronic and lightening protection elements. Furthermore, there are areas for staff, equipment, power, air conditioning, etc.

In an era in which technology provides information to pilots to allow a practically blind landing, is it necessary to keep air traffic controllers in a high position so they can see these operations? In the future, air traffic control rooms will probably be in buildings that are more similar to those of offices or air traffic control centres than the current towers.

The future has already become reality

2015. Control tower of Örnsköldsvik airport, Sweden

Recently, Örnsköldsvik airport in Sweden replaced its control tower with high-tech cameras. Signals are sent to controllers stationed in Sunvsal airport, located around 150 kilometres away, from a 25-metre mast with 14 high-definition cameras. The high performance of these cameras eliminates blind spots, provides information in rain, fog or snow and, along with a whole series of weather sensors, microphones and other devices, it allows controllers to feel as if they were beside the runway. The Swedish Transport Agency approved remotely operated towers on 31 October 2014. Six months later, the first airplane landed in Örnsköldsvik airport using the remote tower services.