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Ineco is a member of the Hispano-Saudi consortium in charge of the construction of the high speed line that links Makkah and Madinah
The project to connect the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, cradle of the Muslim faith, is the biggest international contract ever obtained by Spanish companies.
The Hispano-Saudi consortium forming the Al Shoula Group has built the new high speed corridor which will cross the coastal and desert regions of Saudi Arabia, linking Makkah and Madinah.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:Saudi Railway Organisation (SRO)Execution period:2012-2028Carousel:Image:Link:ArabiaImage:Link:ArabiaImage:Link:ArabiaImage:Link:ArabiaImage:Link:ArabiaClaim:Haramain: the pilgrims’ high-speed trainSubtitle:166,000 passengers per day
444 km route
35 trains
speeds up to 320 km/hr
Less than 3 hours journey time
Paragraph:Paragraph title:Technical challengesParagraph body:In addition to responding to the travel needs of the multitude of Muslim pilgrims who arrive every year from all over the world, this project also presented a significant technical challenge, with extremely adverse geological and weather conditions with the route covering over 440 kilometres of dunes, sands and strong winds.
Given our extensive high speed rail experience, Ineco undertook to provide the engineering and consultancy services for the project which anticipates a peak time transport of over 166.000 passengers a day during pilgrimage to the holy cities, using the latest technology and keeping environmental impact to a minimum. The line will be used by 35 trains, each with capacity for over 450 passengers.
The "desert high speed line" connects the most powerful country in the Gulf area. The railway line is be able to reach speeds of up to 320 km/h, reducing travel time to less than three hours and enabling passengers to travel in total comfort.
Crossing the desert and meeting the massive demand of daily passengers who are using the system, has been the most ambitious Spanish engineering project to date, and a perfect occasion to demonstrate our technical ability and the talent of our professional team.
Paragraph title:Spain as an international benchmark for high speed railParagraph body:Spain has the most extensive high speed train line in Europe and the second biggest in the world. It is a bench mark for the latest technology and leads the world in terms of speed and punctuality. Our 20 years of experience has led us to manage some of the most important railway projects in the world such as the high speed line between Makkah and Madinah.
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The European Commission has entrusted the Ineco-EY consortium, led by the company, with the coordinating and overseeing the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) across the 9 European corridors over the next six years.
The main aim of the contract is to guarantee that the system is implemented in the corridors (set out in the TEN-T regulation) in such a way as to ensure their interoperability, consistency and compatibility with the rest of the network. The replacement of the current various signalling and speed control systems with this single system is key for the development of trans-European railway transport of goods and passengers, as well as encouraging the decongestion of roads.
The aims of the contract are to provide the ERTMS Deployment Programme to the nine corridors of the European network, paying heed to the technical, organisational and financial aspects; to coordinate the various railway bodies involved (infrastructure administrators, operators, national security authorities, stakeholders in the corridors, European authorities, and others); to undertake the technical supervision of the ERTMS deployment projects and afford them economic and financial support; and to provide communication and information support by organising and participating in dissemination activities at different levels.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:European ComissionExecution period:2016-2020Carousel:Image:Link:Despliegue del ERTMS en EuropaImage:Link:Despliegue del ERTMS en EuropaClaim:Ineco is overseeing the deployment of the ERTMS in European corridorsSubtitle:56.000 km of railway network
2030 Horizon
9 european corridors
Paragraph:Paragraph title:Ineco: assurance and efficiencyParagraph body:The need to ensure interoperability by coordinating all interventions in an efficient, centralised manner, together with the confidence in Ineco’s professionalism guaranteed by years of collaboration in implementing the ERTMS and its management capacity, have persuaded the EC to entrust the Spanish public engineering company with overseeing a project that will connect EU territories from north to south and from east to west.
The ERA (European Railway Agency) was created to promote safety and interoperability in the European railway network. As far as the ERTMS is concerned, the agency is the system’s authority and, as such, it is in charge of defining and updating its specifications. The ERA acts as a technical advisor to the European Commission on the ERTMS in general and this contract in particular, and is firmly involved in the technical monitoring activities undertaken as part of the project.
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Ineco is working on one of the most important railway projects in Turkey. It involves adapting the Ankara-Istanbul line, which links the country’s capital with the largest and most densely populated city in Turkey.
In terms of the Turkish economy, in a country with a rapidly expanding population, the current rail capacity has proved to be insufficient to meet the needs of passengers and freight, and this railway line typifies the situation.
The railway corridor, built in the early 20th century, is 576 kilometres long and despite linking the two most important cities in the country, 75% of the route is single track which means that journeys can take more than 6 hours.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:TCDD, state body responsible for Turkish railwaysExecution period:2009-2013Carousel:Image:Link:Ankara Istanbul works track near PamukovaImage:Link:Ankara Istanbul trainImage:Link:Train in Istanbul Sirkeci stationImage:Link:Interior trainClaim:The train linking Europe with Asia (high speed rail in the heart of Anatolia)Subtitle:Speeds of 250 km/h
3 hour journey time
50,000 passengers per day
Paragraph:Paragraph title:Adapting to high speed lineParagraph body:Turkey’s state railway body has initiated plans to adapt the line to speeds of up to 250 km/h. The project is complex and requires refurbishment work and the construction of new sections of line.
When the works have been completed, the total length will be 533 kilometres of high speed line capable of transporting 50,000 passengers daily, and which will reduce the journey time from 6 to 3 hours. Some sections of the line will also be kept for freight transport.Paragraph body:Ineco is providing consultancy services and is supervising and controlling the works in the central section, Inönü-Köseköy, which, at 150 kilometres, is the longest section on the route under construction. This section will have 6 stations and the trains travelling on the tracks will reach average speeds of 250 km/h.Ineco is working on the conversion of this conventional line to a modern high speed track, which will link up to the subterranean tunnel currently being built beneath the Bosphorus, thus creating a modern railway link between Europe and Asia.
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To guarantee that a product or service is safe and complies with all standards, it must pass an independent assessment by specialists approved by the Spanish National Accreditation Entity (ENAC, for its Spanish abbreviation). In the case of the rail transport system, Ineco is certified as an “independent safety assessor” in the areas of command & control and signalling, rolling stock, energy, infrastructure, maintenance and operation and traffic management.
Ineco has worked for more than a decade carrying out independent safety assessments in the Spanish rail network, a task which it has been a pioneer. The company was first certified in 2009 with accreditation number 76/EI058. In 2015, this was renewed and extended to cover the fields of rolling stock, energy, infrastructure, maintenance and operation and traffic management. The work of ENAC-certified entities, moreover, is valid not only in Spain but also in the over 70 countries with which it has mutual recognition agreements, including the European Union, the US, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India, United Arab Emirates and Mexico, among others.
Ineco is an active participant in the practical application of the CENELEC 50126, 50128 and 50129 standards and the European Regulation 402/2013 on a Common Safety Method during independent safety assessments carried out for service commencement processes for Spanish high speed railway lines. Ineco has a presence in all phases of the safety life cycle, from the initial concept and system definition stages to system validation. This includes final safety acceptance of the service commencement, both for new infrastructure and modifications to existing infrastructure. The company is also working in Saudi Arabia for the Haramain project, where it is carrying out the independent safety assessment (ISA) for the ERTMS on-board systems to be used on the Makkah–Madinah line. It is also carrying out ISAs for line L2 and the L1 extension for the Panama metro; these have a global scope, covering all subsystems: command and control, energy, track, workshops and rolling stock, and the integration of these.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:Railway operators, infrastructure administrators, technology and building companies, national safety agenciesExecution period:2004 - To dateCarousel:Image:Image:Image:Claim:Ineco: over ten years’ experience as an independent safety assessorSubtitle:12 certified ISA bodies in Spain
Multi-lateral agreements with over 70 countries
Paragraph:Paragraph title:An independent safety assessmentParagraph body:Today’s railway lines are greatly complex infrastructure made up of a large number of elements and which is subject to very extensive legal and technical regulations requiring highly specialised inspectors. Throughout the period from planning to service commencement, European and international regulations require verification that each and every one of the elements and subsystems function correctly: from the simplest, such as sleepers, to the most complex, such as software.
For this purpose, two types of safety study are carried out. Firstly, hazard analyses, which identify threats that could bring the system to a potentially dangerous situation and work on mitigation measures or barriers to avoid these. Secondly, and at a higher level, there is the type of study known as ISAs (independent safety assessment). Unlike hazard analyses, ISAs can only be carried out by an accredited body.
Ineco’s safety assessors are a team of engineers recognised as experts in the rail sector, who have extensive experience in railway engineering, railway safety installations, infrastructure, energy, rolling stock, operation and maintenance, in addition to having first-hand knowledge of the safety procedures and processes of the main railway material suppliers.
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Europe is sewn together with a network of supranational routes comprising a complex mesh. A series of tracks that are indispensable to the development and proper functioning of the single market, as they guarantee the free movement of goods, people and services.
The aim of the trans-European networks (TENs) is to connect European regions using modern, effective infrastructure that goes beyond simply juxtaposing national networks. The priority objective of European transport policy is to guarantee the effectiveness and sustainability of trans-European transport, as well as taking common actions to resolve problems which it would be less rational for individual member states, regions or cities to address.
Ineco is an active participant in various projects related to these networks, with the work on technical and operational interoperability being worthy of particular mention. Moreover, the company developed the Spanish work plan for the Atlantic Corridor study in 2014, and has supported the Ministry of Public Works and Adif in drawing up studies and plans to adapt the Mediterranean Corridor to international gauge. Ineco is currently participating in studies to update and enlarge work plans for the Atlantic and Mediterranean corridors, both of which are to be developed in the 2015–2017 period.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:European CommissionExecution period:2014 - 2017Carousel:Image:Image:Image:Claim:European transport corridors, indispensable in the development of the single marketSubtitle:First defined in the late 1980s
Interoperable
All modes of transport
Paragraph:Paragraph title:TENs by sectorParagraph body:The TENs cover three areas of activity: TEN-Energy (TEN-E), covering the electricity and natural gas sectors, TEN-Telecommunications (eTEN), and TEN-Transport (TEN-T), which covers road and rail transport, maritime and river transport and the high speed rail network.
TEN-T guidelines define the European Union’s priorities by attaching the network label to certain routes, so channelling EU financial support to projects with greater Community added value. Each corridor is made up of a series of elements such as infrastructure, systems and services which are susceptible to new development, enlargement and improvement projects and which contribute to increasing the capacity and interoperability of the different modes of passenger and freight transport. Financing and executing the projects is the responsibility of member states. Through inclusion in a corridor, they are granted access to TEN funds and other sources of European funding.
Paragraph title:Corridors beyond the European UnionParagraph body:The enlargement of corridors to central and eastern European countries reinforces the importance of the TENs, spreading their coverage across the entire European continent. In addition, effective connection to third country networks further east (Russia and CIS countries) and south (countries in the Mediterranean basin) represents a factor providing balance and economic development, by establishing connections between the main centres of the EU and non-European Union countries.
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Ineco, in consortium with the Turkish company UBM and the consultancy Mott McDonald, is supervising works to modernise the railway line between Samsun and Kalin. The line is one of six routes selected in Turkey to improve connections between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
The work includes monitoring and controlling the modernisation of the line’s infrastructure, superstructure and safety installations. Among other tasks, the work will include the rehabilitating and improving the platform, renovating the track, rehabilitating tunnels, rebuilding and restoring bridges, optimising track diagrams, enlarging stations and installing new train protection (ERTMS Level 1), signalling, telecommunications and centralised traffic monitoring systems.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:Turkish Ministry of Transport and the European UnionExecution period:2015 – 2021Carousel:Image:Image:Image:Claim:Ineco’s participation in improving the connection between the Mediterranean and the Black SeaSubtitle:ERTMS system
378 Km
Connection between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
Paragraph:Paragraph title:History and description of the lineParagraph body:The railway line between Samsun and Kalin is an unelectrified, unsignalled, standard gauge, single-track, conventional traffic line. It is located in a mountainous region and characterised by steep slopes and a winding route.
The line’s construction was completed in 1932 as part of the Samsun–Sivas line, one of the first railway lines built by the then recently established Republic of Turkey. The last rehabilitation project took place in 2008 on the Samsun–Amasya stretch, and only involved maintenance for existing traffic, with no kind of modernisation work taking placing.
The line measures approximately 378 kilometres in length. The route begins in Samsun, on the shores of the Black Sea, and ends at Kalin Station, where it intersects with the Ankara–Sivas branch. The current line crosses a mountainous region and is characterised by steep slopes and a winding route.
The modernisation of the Samsun–Kalin railway line will contribute to the improvement of infrastructure for Turkey’s future rail network by improving safety and intermodality, and maintaining an efficient transport system balanced by the increased capacity of the line through the improvement of existing signalling.
Paragraph title:Description of the work to be carried out by InecoParagraph body:The modernisation and rehabilitation work will be carried out on the 377.8 km of the Samsun–Kalin line, including 29 stations and the Samsun–Gelemen branch, measuring approximately 10.2 km in length.
Ineco is responsible for supervising the execution of works on signalling, communications and energy supply and for coordinating the electrical and mechanical installations team.
Systems worth highlighting among those being installed on the line are the ERTMS Level 1 train protection system, electronic signalling points, level crossing protection systems, centralised traffic control, a fibre-optic telecommunications network, hot box detectors, passenger information systems, alarm and anti-intruder systems and an energy supply network for the installations.
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Maintenance is one of the most important factors of infrastructure. For this purpose, Spain has in its network several complexes and Depots for treating railway rolling stock. These activities require a major effort in a number of disciplines, combining and integrating civil work, building, railway work and industrial facilities.
Ineco has a great deal of experience in executing first and second level workshops for conventional and high speed trains in Spain and Europe. It also has multidisciplinary professionals at an advanced level in their careers in executing these.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:Renfe / AdifExecution period:2002 - To dateCarousel:Image:Image:Image:Claim:Depots for treating railway rolling stockSubtitle:More than 15 years’ experience
Comprehensive participation
International experience
Paragraph:Paragraph title:A long careerParagraph body:Since 2002, the company has participated in executing the majority of rail workshops in Spain, such as those of Santa Catalina and Cerro Negro (Madrid) Railway Complex or the Rail Workshops of Fuencarral (Madrid), Los Prados (Málaga) and Can Tunis (Barcelona), in which Ineco participated fully in executing the design, technical assistance and construction management.
All these activities consist in constructing top-quality workshops for short maintenance cycles (short stays primarily for preventive maintenance), executing high speed rolling stock and that of the new lines and services of high performance lines in our country.
Ineco has also worked on the enlargement of Santa Catalina Workshop (Santa Catalina II) and remodelling part of the Workshops of Villaverde (Madrid), as well as executing the design and construction management work for the “Centro Integral de Servicios Ferroviarios de Adif” (ADIF Integral Hub for Rail Services) at Bobadilla station (Málaga). This work includes first level workshop and laboratory facilities for ADIF’s future railway test ring.
It is worth highlighting the technical assistance work on execution works for the new Valladolid railway complex, the most notable project of which is Renfe’s new comprehensive maintenance base (B.M.I. in Spanish). This workshop was conceived and executed as a first and second level workshop, and is equipped such that any maintenance work can be executed including short maintenance cycles, large stops and the complete remodelling of rolling stock. The new Valladolid B.M.I. is one of the largest work bases for rolling stock in the world with a covered area in excess of 70,000 m2.
Ineco is also executing the rail workshop design for the Makkah-Medina high speed line in Saudi Arabia, a first level workshop, for short maintenance cycles.
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Since its conception in 1968, Ineco has collaborated directly and intensely in the development of Spain’s conventional rail network, with active participation in all phases: planning, design, technological development, project management, building, service commencement and maintenance and operation consultancy.
Over the years, the company has collaborated in the different technical areas necessary to achieve optimal railway operation and maximum safety. Among its many collaborations with Adif, the company has carried out actions in various technical areas: infrastructure, track, signalling, electrification, telecommunications, stations, gauge changeover facilities, operation and standardisation.
The company has worked in infrastructure inspection, inventory and maintenance. It also participates in the different strategic improvement plans needed for the progressive replacement of old equipment in order to offer the best options in rail traffic management. In addition to this, Ineco participates in the design and preventive and corrective maintenance of infrastructure, track and electrification installations. It has also worked in a supportive role, providing design and assistance in the implementation and/or modernisation of telecommunications services.
The recent development of the network with mixed gauges, in which Ineco also participated, should also be noted. This enables the re-use of the current infrastructure with the fastest, most modern rolling stock, as well as structuring a necessary connection between Iberian- and standard-gauge tracks.
In addition, there is an ever-greater need to provide a path for goods arriving or departing through ports. In recent years, the company has worked both with the railway operator Adif and with port authorities to improve, increase and modernise rail connections with both gauges.
Examples worth mentioning are the work carried out on access to the ports of Barcelona and Málaga, etc., and the work now underway, with technical assistance from Ineco, to build a new spur in the area of Camarillas (Murcia), which will cut the journey by over 20 km and half an hour. The work, financed by the Port Authority of Cartagena, aim to improve rail transport and connections with the rest of the network.
The modernisation that has taken place in rail transport has boosted the introduction of new products such as electronic signalling points (electronic blocks), jointless track circuits and ATP automatic driving assistance systems. Ineco collaborated in the development and enhancement of these technologies.
With respect to stations, the company has designed and managed works for the new passenger stations which have become necessary to structure the network throughout Spain.
Ineco participated in Adif’s plans to improve stations and remove level crossings.
Improving accessibility. The main action lines consist in rehabilitating and modernising buildings, raising and extending platforms, platform access ramps and entrance halls, the accessibility of paths and car parks, adapting stairways and handrails to meet regulations, installing ramps and lifts on platforms and improving to lighting.
Image On:Image Off:Sector:Country:Customer:AdifExecution period:1968 to dateCarousel:Image:Image:Image:Claim:Ineco’s continued involvement in the development of the Spanish conventional networkSubtitle:Over 12,000 km of track
Over 1,900 passenger stations
Over 1,200 tunnels
Over 6,300 bridges
Paragraph:Paragraph title:Removal of level crossingsParagraph body:The Ministry of Public Works is working towards both removing level crossings and improving the safety of those that have yet to be removed. Among other projects, Ineco has participated in removing level crossings in Asturias, between Pola de Siero and Nava, and on the Puebla de San Julián spur, where 14 level crossings were removed.
Ineco also offered its support in the definition of a regulatory framework and in drafting, reviewing and updating regulations, and collaborated in drawing up the Circulation Regulation and skills training.
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