ADIF - Articles and news items

Adif and Invensys Rail Dimetronic sign an agreement to promote innovation in the railway industry

Rail industry news / 13 January 2012 /

Adif’s chairman, Antonio González Marín, and Invensys Rail Dimetronic’s CEO, Jesús Guzmán Martín de los Santos, have signed a research and technological development collaboration agreement that allows Invensys Rail Dimetronic to join Adif’s Centre for Railway Technologies (CRT) located in Malaga’s Technological Park of Andalousia.

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Alcatel-Lucent and Adif jointly research communications technologies for improving high-speed rail transportation

Rail industry news / 25 October 2011 /

Alcatel-Lucent and Adif, the Spanish state-owned company responsible for the management of Spain’s railway infrastructures, have signed a collaboration agreement for the testing of communications technologies for use on railway transportation systems.

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ADIF’s Public Private Collaboration: High-speed lines to Galicia and Alicante

Issue 5 2011 / 22 September 2011 /

In 2010, the Infrastructure Extraordinary Plan (Plan Extraordinario de Infraestructuras (PEI)) of the Ministry of Public Works began, with expected tenders in the region of €17,000 million – the equivalent to 1.7% of Spanish GDP – which meant a turning point in the model used up until then in Spain to construct and maintain new public infrastructures.

The PEI envisages the application of Public Private Collaboration (PPC) to promote cooperation between public administrations and the private sector for the development and modernisation of infrastructures and public services of strategic interest. In this sense it is noteworthy that approximately 70% of investments will be allocated to railways to enhance suburban railway networks as well as freight transportation. (more…)

Progress on the Madrid–Levante high-speed line

Issue 5 2010 / 17 September 2010 /

The Madrid–Castilla La Mancha–Comunidad Valenciana-Región de Murcia high-speed line is one of the greatest works in Spanish and the world’s civil engineering history, both for its length – 955km – and for the new technologies applied in its construction.

This line, in which €12.4 million have been invested, is one of the most important high-speed corridors in the Iberian Peninsula. The eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula is also known as the Levante region. Its route begins in the Madrid Puerta de Atocha station. It shares 29km with the currently operative Madrid–Seville/Málaga line, which is being split to achieve independent accesses for both lines. (more…)

Positive ETCS deployment progress for the Spanish network

Issue 3 2010 / 31 May 2010 /

The aim of this article is to present the current situation of the ETCS deployment on the Spanish network managed by the Spanish Infrastructure Manager (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias – ADIF). It covers the situation in the newly built High-Speed Network (UIC gauge) and the deployment over the existing conventional network (Iberian gauge – 1,638mm). An overview about the commissioning of the ETCS equipment is also presented. Finally, some punctuality figures are provided together with some conclusions about the deployment of ETCS. (more…)

Bombardier awarded record signalling contract by ADIF

Rail industry news / 3 March 2010 /

Bombardier Transportation has been awarded an order to deliver the BOMBARDIER INTERFLO 200 mainline signalling solution for the Albacete to La Encina section of the Madrid to Valencia – Alicante line in the Castilla la Mancha Region of Spain. (more…)

The shortest way from the centre of Spain to the coast

Issue 5 2009, Past issues / 26 September 2009 /

A double track of UIC European gage designed for maximum speeds of 350km/h will soon link the centre of Spain with the Mediterranean Sea and the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The total length of the line is 940km – with a forecasted investment of €12.365 million – and will imply a significant change in the communications map when the Madrid-Cuenca-Valencia/Albacete section comes into operation in 2010. After this section, there will be a link with Alicante in 2012 and soon after another link to Murcia and Castellón.

Since facts and events are measured in time, the distance is more than ever a fight against the clock. Bringing the cities closer together is set in function of the time we spend on a train, thus the high-speed expands the human limits in everyday horizons.
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Madrid-Barcelona-French Border high-speed railway line

Issue 5 2008, Past issues / 27 September 2008 /

The railway in Spain was created only a few decades after the railway in Great Britain. In 1848, the first stretch of railway line between Barcelona and Mataró was opened for operation in precisely the same corridor in which the Madrid-Barcelona-French Border line is being built today.

The fortunes of the railway in Spain closely mirrored those of the main European railways. Initially, private companies began building different lines through various government tenders and contracts. Subsequently, after a considerable succession of mergers between these first companies, two large private Spanish companies were created, Norte and MZA, which were finally rescued by the State to create the public company RENFE in 1943. The company became the main railway operator in 2005; at the same time, ADIF was founded as a state-operated railway infrastructures administrator.

The first High-Speed Railway opened in Spain in 1992, connecting Madrid with Seville. The line was exclusively for passenger transport and was 470km in length. However, the first studies on the construction of a high-speed railway line actually took place in the 1970s and they were based on the construction of a line covering Madrid-Barcelona-the French Border. Apart from joining the two main cities in the country, this would establish a connection between the Iberian Peninsula and Europe, through what is known as the Mediterranean corridor.

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Keeping up-to-date with ETCS implementation plans in Spain

Issue 3 2008, Past issues / 28 May 2008 /

This article aims to present the main aspects concerning the experience that the development of the ERTMS system in Spain has produced. It will also describe the established criteria for the migration to this new system.

The subjects that are going to be presented are as follows:

• Implementation in the infrastructure
• Implementation in the rolling stock
• ERTMS migration strategy
• GSM-R implementation
• STM status and perspective
• Compatibility between a SRS 2.3.0 train and SRS 2.2.2 Spanish trackside
• Conclusions

Current ERTMS implementation in the infrastructure

High-Speed Network

The actual development of the ETCS system involves the trackside of the high-speed lines and commuter lines.
The line between Madrid and Barcelona is 650km and has been built by the company Ansaldo. Thales was used for the line from Madrid to Lleida (460km) and also the line from Lleida to Barcelona (190km). The installation of the system is completed and in operation in Level 1 at 300km/h.

The line between Zaragoza and Huesca incorporates Alstom technology and is also finished and in the reliability testing phase before being entered into service.

The line Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid (part of the future high-speed line from Madrid to northern Spain) is built with Thales and is in operation with Level 1 at 300km/h. The same characteristics apply to the line between Cordoba and Malaga, built by Dimetronic (Invensys).

Level 2 is available in all the lines as a basic/main system and level 1 as a backup – except on the line between Zaragoza and Huesca where only Level 1 is installed. Currently, trains are working only with Level 1 because Level 2 is still in the verification and validation process. Delays have occurred due to the incorporation into the RBCs of the Change Request 458.

Conventional Network

In the conventional network, the line between Albacete and La Encina (93km long), which forms part of the line between Madrid and Valencia, is currently undergoing tests, and has been the Pilot line developed in Spain within the TEN projects. This line has served to validate the functionality of the system.

The installation of the system in Madrid´s suburban railway network has already started by Thales and Invensys (Dimetronic). The system in these lines is based on Level 1 being also complemented with Level 2 in the tunnels which connect the two most important railway stations in Madrid (Atocha and Chamartín). This is a really important project since it is the first step towards the migration process of the ETCS system into the conventional network.

To sum up, nowadays the situation of ETCS´s system development in the Spanish infrastructure, is that more than 1300km of double track lines have been totally constructed or are being constructed, by all UNISIG companies except Siemens.

Current ERTMS implementation on the rolling stock

Currently, 167 trains are in operation with ETCS on-board. The BT Talgo Lab Trains and the High-Speed A-330 Séneca Lab Train are owned by ADIF to perform tests on the infrastructure.

The other trains are owned by Renfe and are used in commercial operation. The S-102, S-103 and S-104 series are high-speed trains in service on the high-speed network. The S-120 series is a variable-gauge train that are able to run both on the high-speed and in the conventional network.

A new contract for 217 vehicles has been placed with different suppliers to equip commuter trains for the Madrid area.

Migration strategy

The criteria that will be followed in the process of migration towards the ETCS system in Spain is different from the high-speed network for the conventional network.

In high-speed lines, the main objectives to pursue, besides safety, are interoperability and an appropriated level of capacity. For this reason, the foreseen future is the implantation of Level 2 as the main system in all the high-speed lines constructed at present or near future and Level 1 as a backup. In future projects, and once high level of reliability has been achieved, the exclusive implantation of Level 2 will be studied.

In conventional lines, the main objective is to increase safety and to increase capacity in the lines with high traffic density; mainly the lines in the suburban railway network. This has to be achieved at the minimum cost possible. Currently, a detailed analysis for this migration process is ongoing, but taking into account the existing infrastructures and signaling, a starting point Level 1 will be deployed on the network and Level 2 will be considered for high density lines. The economic impact of the complete deployment will be evaluated in each case, including interlocking renewal, wiring, etc…, added to the ETCS costs.
Within the migration process, the freight corridors proposed by the European Commission are a very important way of accelerating this process that will serve to motivate the implantation of the implementation of the ETCS system. Spain participates in the corridor D which connects the Valencia-Barcelona-Lyon-Torino-Ljubljana project, where three other countries collaborate; France, Italy and Slovenia. This corridor links the ports from Valencia, Tarragona and Barcelona (which are the most important ones in Spain) to other corridors that run within France and Italy.

GSM-R deployment

GSM-R is an essential element of this plan in order to achieve the necessary levels of safety, interoperability, capacity and quality of service. The implementation criteria of the GSM-R system is delimited by the economical resources and the productive capacity of the sector.

According this criteria, all new high-speed lines and trains will be installed with the GSM-R system.

On the conventional network, the migration process towards the GSM-R system will prioritise the commuter’s lines and freight corridors.

STM development

Within the migration process, which was described above, it is necessary to have at disposal the corresponding STM for the ATP national systems. This is due to the fact that these trains may circulate in lines which are or are not equipped with the ETCS system. Moreover, this will mean that profits will be made in the near future with the on-board ERTMS equipment installed in the trains.

The ASFA STM, the Ebicab STM and LZB STM have their development phase completed and are being installed on the rolling stock. The STM-LZB is in operation on the S-103 trains running on the Madrid to Sevilla line.

Compatibility between a SRS 2.3.0 train and the SRS 2.2.2 Spanish infrastructure

The lines and on-board equipment currently in commercial service in Spain are equipped with the version 2.2.2. To achieve the maximum compatibility with new version 2.3.0, the use of functions on the infrastructure that are not backwards compatible and not essential for the operation have been avoided. Also, specific engineering rules (2.3.0 compatible) have been applied for the implementation of some functions. Nevertheless, in the version 2.3.0, there are certain change requests that are incompatible with the infrastructure currently installed, that can be classified in two categories:

• Change request that resolves problems identified during tests and are needed for the operation of the lines: CR 458, 257
• Change request that is not needed for the operation of lines currently installed: CR 20, 792

These modifications have a great economic impact for their implementation on the infrastructure.
For the rolling stock, the impact is even higher, because the great majority of the change request affects the on-board equipment.

Conclusions

Spain has been a pioneer country in the development and deployment of the ETCS system, as shown by the amount of kilometers and train units installed and in operation, being the biggest installations in Europe. Spain is fully committed to the deployment of the ETCS system, having clear future plans for the deployment and migration toward this system.

Out of the Spanish experience, the most negative factor is the continuous revision of the version of the specifications, leading to important actuations, involving economic investments and disturbance in the commercial operation of installations that are already in commercial service.

Once version 2.3.0d has been established as the interoperability reference for the freight corridors, all future modifications to the specifications will be compatible with this version.

Portuguese high-speed network is fast approaching

Issue 5 2007, Past issues / 26 September 2007 /

RAVE is a company that develops and co-ordinates the projects and studies that are necessary to facilitate decision-making in the context of planning, constructing, financing and operating a high-speed rail network that is to be established in continental Portugal along with its planned connections to the high-speed railway network in Spain.

RAVE was founded in 2000 with a corporate capital of €2,500,000, which was wholly subscribed by its two shareholders, the Portuguese State and REFER – the Portuguese national railway system.

In addition to its activities in Portugal, in partnership with ADIF – a Spanish Railway Infrastructure Management company, RAVE is a 50% shareholder in AVEP – Alta Velocidade Espanha-Portugal [High Speed Spain-Portugal], a European economic interest grouping created in order to study rail links between the two countries. AVEP is responsible for co-ordinating market research studies and defining routes and other technical aspects of the trans-crossing sections of this railway system, and also co-ordinates applications and procedures for obtaining EU funding for the project. (more…)

ADIF looks towards the future

Issue 5 2007, Past issues / 26 September 2007 /

Heavy investments will be made in the Spanish railway network in forthcoming years.

The Spanish railway network has been split into separate companies managing the railway infrastructure (ADIF) and train operations (Renfe). There is strong political impetus to invest in the railways, with the 15-year Strategic Plan for Transport Infrastructure (PEIT 2005-2020) outlining the way in which the rail network will be upgraded. (more…)

PEIT: a bet on the future

Issue 4 2006, Past issues / 28 July 2006 /

On 15 July 2005, the Spanish Government approved the Infrastructure and Transport Strategic Plan 2005-2020 (PEIT). Infrastructure is considered the indispensable support for citizens to have quality transport services, and also an efficient instrument to foster economic development as well as social and territorial cohesion.

The PEIT predicts a total investment cost amounting to €250,000 million, which implies an annual average of €15,500 million, and an average investing effort of approximately 1.5% of the GDP as long as the period lasts.

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