At the forefront of future metros

Oriol Pàmies Journalist

Ninety years is long life to live. In the case of the Barcelona metro, it has been a life of growth, maturation and renewal. The 21st century has seen this means of transport once again transform itself.

© Vicente Zambrano
Series 9000 train, manufactured by Alstom, at Sagrada Família station on line 2. These were the first engines prepared to circulate without a driver, although drivers do operate on this line.

If the metro has been historically linked to the phenomenon of rush hour, commuting to and from work or school, it is now being asked to accommodate numerous transport situations and needs – daytime and night-time, business days and holidays, service to the city centre and in the outskirts – and do so while maintaining the attributes of speed, reliability and safety that define it. The city has evolved: its population is more dispersed, new facilities and activity centres have been created, tourism has grown and it is home to more senior citizens. Patterns of personal mobility have also evolved: the boom in cycling coincides with the car losing its prestige, connectivity is all the rage, and information is received and shared on mobile devices in real time.

In this context, the “good old metro” is no longer good enough, and this will be accentuated as new demands appear and require solutions. But long-term infrastructures should be planned and executed to meet long-term needs. This is why in cities such as Barcelona we have long envisioned what the metro of the future would look like and have worked towards making it a reality.

Listen to people and implement technology

The metro of the future will be the fruit of listening to people’s demands and implementing technology-driven solutions. It is thus expected to be capable of absorbing any and all demands placed on it: those arising during peak use hours (which do not number that many nowadays); the need for high levels of reliability; the capability of handling situations that inevitably occur in large cities; longer operational hours and non-stop service on certain nights; and the ability to provide real-time information, especially in the event of incidents. And all this at lower costs, without sacrificing safety.

The change is already visible in terms of technology and infrastructure, perhaps less so in regards to organisational aspects, where high levels of staff qualifications and training contrast with low added-value from everyday jobs such as selling tickets and driving trains. And for everything to work out they should all be linked.

The technology used in rail systems has evolved over time to address one main concern: ensuring the safe running of every scheduled train in a way that leaves no margin for error. We are now bearing witness to the culmination of this process in the form of driverless, crewless trains on automated lines such as our metro Lines 9 and 10. An example of the progress achieved can be seen in train location measurements. While previous measurements were made in increments of hundreds of metres, today they can be specified within centimetres thanks to the Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system, which makes use of radio communication. Barcelona became a pioneer in this breakthrough control system as the first city in the world to operate driverless trains using it.

Technology has also made possible the remote monitoring of the metro’s most critical components, including trains, stations and tunnels. This opens new possibilities for efficient transport with increased reliability, reduced consumption, an improved service to users and higher levels of safety through intelligent surveillance systems. The physical separation between the platform and track areas through the use of automated doors synchronised with the doors of trains is yet another small innovation that adds to the comfort and safety of passengers and is an integral part of automated metros. Barcelona was the first city in Spain to install platform doors in 2007, on its Line 11.

The physical appearance of metro systems is changing as are the methods used to build them. Stations are no longer mazes of corridors and winding stairs but open spaces where traffic flows are logically arranged, without the presence of architectural barriers between the street and platforms, providing everyone with the same access to public transport. Vertical transport methods such as lifts are also increasingly used, and links are designed to favour intermodal transport. Tunnels are not mere tubes: they include evacuation routes and places to park or manoeuvre trains so they can be brought into service just at the time they are most needed. Installing this infrastructure in densely populated areas or in areas with difficult terrain entails the use of large-bore tunnelling machines that get the job done while minimising impact to above-ground areas. Lines 9 and 10 are being built to a great extent along such lines.

Metro systems of the future will require organisational schemes that make use of the advantages afforded by infrastructure and technology. As routine tasks will be eliminated, jobs will be more information-rich and versatile: employees with technical skills who can make decisions while interacting with users will be needed. Such profiles will be even more significant on automated lines, and staff duties will range from those involving contact with the public to those in the fields of maintenance and operations, which will comprise the majority. Under this organisational system, the control centre will take on enhanced importance as a place where functions and systems are integrated.

© Vicente Zambrano
Stairs and lifts down to the platforms of Singuerlin station on line 2.

The automated metro

If there is already a model that already largely integrates all these features of the future metro, it is the automated metro. This model is understood to be applicable to the entire line, from trains to station management. Progress towards this model is moving apace in an assured manner, as indicated by data from the Automated Metros Observatory. The observatory is a permanent body within the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), which is chaired by TMB and coordinated from Barcelona. Today, more than forty metro lines, covering more than six hundred kilometres, have been automated. Accelerated expansion of this system is expected for the coming years. The number of line kilometres doubles each decade and is expected to triple by the next decade.

Most new metro systems are designed and built to be automated. It is significant to note that cities with automated lines already in service never go back to building new lines in the traditional mode with drivers. Another trend that will mark the coming years is the conversion of conventional lines into automated lines. This is an area in which Barcelona is once again exemplary, having thus converted its Line 11 in 2009.

More attractive, more flexible, information-rich, efficient, sustainable and safer: these are the features of the metro of the future. Having already implemented these features over a considerable period of time has made Barcelona an international benchmark. The ambitious network expansion that we are now carrying out on the semi-circular of Lines 9 and 10 has been designed to include these features, and is driving the adoption of different organisational schemes and ways of interacting with users, which have made trains without a driver the norm. The opening of the Besòs sections in 2009/2010 has proved to be a good testing ground for this new metro system.

Despite the difficulties that come with trying to advance the country’s major infrastructure projects in view of the current economic scenario, Lines 9 and 10 are moving forward and the opening of a portion of the southern sector, between Airport T1 and Zona Universitària, has been announced for early 2016. This means that within a just over a year the Barcelona Metro will add about twenty kilometres and fifteen stations to its network. Another thing that should not be overlooked: soon 25% of the metro system will be fully automated.

In addition to the creation of a new fast and comprehensive transport option serving the UB and UPC campuses, the Montjuïc Exhibition Centre 2, Mercabarna, the Logistics Park, as well as the residential districts L’Hospitalet and El Prat de Llobregat, a firm commitment has been made to make our transport network one that meets the needs of the 21st century. In the area of urban mobility, our challenge is to offer solutions to today’s problems while also doing everything possible to progress towards resolving those of tomorrow.

Ramon Malla

Director of Automated Lines for TMB

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