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

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.

The agreement, that will be valid until the end of 2012 with a renewal possibility for two additional years, establishes the following research lines regarding railway innovation:

• The integration of the interlocking solution, train detection systems, ERTMS and CTC for the international Project Meccah-Madinah. The project will allow integrating and testing the signalling and control solution proposed by the Spanish consortium so as to verify the appropriate fulfillment of the client’s requirements, as well as its relation with other subsystems to be provided by other members of the consortium.
• Development of ERTMS applications for low traffic lines that require the adaptation of the kind of solutions currently available according to the analysis, requirement definition and levels of service acceptable by clients. The project will include the integration of the ERTMS and ASFA solutions for conventional freight lines or for those with three tracks.
• Development of a global predictive maintenance project (both for track and on-board equipments), taking as a starting point the centralised maintenance projects developed by Invensys Rail Dimetronic, so as to make possible predictive detection of incidents.

Adif and Invensys Rail Dimetronic will cooperate in the development of research studies and the implementation of research, development and innovation projects and programmes in scientific areas of mutual interest, sharing, if needed, facilities for the development of this kind of activities, preferably for tests and training.

The cooperation between Adif and Invensys Rail Dimetronic can also materialize in the creation of public-private consortiums so as to be able to gain funds for R+D+i projects from national or European institutions or to submit joint offers for international tenders

Finally, Adif and Invensys Rail Dimetronic will also cooperate in technical and research staff training programmes, as well as in organising joint activities regarding the social promotion of technological research and development.

Antonio González, expressed how satisfied he was with Dimetronic joining the CRT, highlighting “Adif’s notable bet on innovation and its support to the process of internationalization of Spanish railway technology”. “The role of Malaga’s Centre of Railway Technologies is strategic in the promotion of railway technology research and development”, he added.

“Signing this agreement strengthens Invensys Rail Dimetronic’s commitment with Adif for the joint development of state-of-the-art technologies that can turn Spain into a worldwide reference regarding the future railway infrastructures management and traffic control”, stated Jesús Guzmán, CEO of Invensys Rail Dimetronic.

Málaga’s CRT, a landmark of technological innovation

Adif, which has bet on innovation and technological development from the beginning, is currently carrying out 48 R+D+i projects and recently saw 6 more projects approved in the INNPACTO 2011 tender, all of them in collaboration with different institutions. All of them account for a total investment of €118 million, besides the collaboration established with over 100 companies, 24 technological centres and 26 universities in Spain.

The Centre for Railway Technologies is conceived as an open space to promote innovation and collaboration among companies focused in railway technological development through R+D+i projects.

Currently, over 30 companies at the vanguard of technology in fields such as telecommunications, railway signalling and superstructure, construction, civil engineering, rolling stock, energy or sustainability, are already taking part in the CRT, and other organizations will soon join them.

With the creation of the CRT, Adif wants to strengthen the Spanish railway system positioning at the European and global technological vanguard. This technological centre, and the adjoining railway testing circuit that will be built, will be at the forefront of the world’s high speed railway research, development and innovation.

In this first stage the CRT hosts two of Adif’s specialized labs: the GSM-R lab, for RBC-Train communications technology and the development of ERTMS data engineering; and the TIC lab, dedicated to intelligent transportation systems and to the development of the DaVinci system, an advanced railway traffic management system.

Special training, technological surveillance, R+D+i project management and technology transfer departments have been created for the development of Adif’s own national and international projects, even in cooperation with third parties.

Increasing the level of cooperation with public and private institutions in technological research, development and innovation activities within its priority business areas as well as in R+D+I projects promoted by Spanish public administrations or European Union institutions within the R+D+I Framework Programme are among Adif’s strategic objectives.

Invensys Rail Dimetronic, at the vanguard of the railway industry

Research, development and innovation are an essential part of Invensys Rail Dimetronic identity and so the company yearly dedicates over 6% of its sales volume to these areas

En 2010, Invensys Rail Dimetronic created the Centre of Excellence in Railway Signalling at his headquarters in San Fernando de Henares, where over 200 engineers are exclusively dedicated to R+D+i, developing state-of-the-art signalling and railway traffic control systems. This department, in coordination with the CBTC, ERTMS, Control Centres and Interlockings development groups, works for the development of the European ERTMS regulation and automatic train control system and of the CBTC system for the automatic control of mass transit lines, among other technologies.

This high level of innovation allows Invensys Rail Dimetronic to export across the world its technology developed in Spain, turning these systems into a worldwide reference. Countries such as Portugal, Turkey, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Venezuela and Brazil already have Invensys Rail Dimetronic’s railway traffic control and signalling technology developed in its Centre of Excellence at San Fernando de Henares.