ADIF awards Thales the maintenance of the traffic control facilities of the Madrid-Seville and Cordoba-Malaga high speed lines
• Thales in Spain is responsible for maintaining more than 2,200 km of the Spanish high-speed network Madrid-Seville and Cordoba-Malaga, which is the most extensive in Europe and the second most extensive in the world, after China’s.
• The contract, to be carried out over 48 months, is valued at 68.77 million euros VAT included.
Maintenance activity on high-speed lines is critical to ensuring the safety, reliability and availability of transport systems. This activity is key for ensuring the success of the sector’s liberalisation, as the infrastructure will be subjected to a significant increase in traffic. Thales has a long history in Spain in the rail sector notably in maintenance activities.
Following the award to Thales for the maintenance of the traffic control facilities and detection of 122 km of the Antequera-Granada Line for a period of 20 years and the previous contract for the 105 km of the La Encina-Valencia section of the Mediterranean corridor for 25 years, Thales is now in charge of maintaining more than 2,200 km of the Spanish high-speed network.
“For over 25 years, Thales has been ensuring the maintenance of a large segment of Spain’s high-speed network, a key service that will contribute to the success of the sector’s liberalisation. Thales Spain will carry out preventive, predictive and corrective maintenance, ensuring the safety and comfort of all travellers on their journeys.” Jesús Sánchez Bargos, President of Thales in Spain.
Renewal of maintenance of the Madrid-Seville and Córdoba-Málaga lines
ADIF is relying on Thales through a contract worth 68.77 million euros, with a term for completion over 48 months, for the maintenance of the signalling and traffic control elements for the Madrid-Seville High Speed line. The contract includes both preventive maintenance, aimed at reducing the likelihood of failure of or disruption to the operation of any element in the system, and corrective maintenance, carried out after a fault has been noted. Additionally, it also includes predictive maintenance, based on monitoring of operations and on established parameters, to further optimise the availability of the high-speed lines in Spain.
The Madrid-Seville high-speed line was officially opened in 1992 and Thales in Spain has been in charge of maintenance from the beginning, as well as maintenance of the La Sagra-Toledo branch, which added 21 km to the line's 470 km of double track in 2005, and of the Cordoba-Malaga line, which was brought into use in 2007.
The traffic control and signalling components requiring maintenance include electronic interlocking systems, whose function is to activate field equipment and signals to ensure safe running of traffic; automatic train protection systems and driving assistance ASFA (Announcement of Signals and Automatic Braking), LZB and ERTMS systems; fallen objects detector, hot box and lateral wind detectors, buildings and technical rooms, among others. Thales is proud to be able to support ADIF in their commitment to provide the highest levels of safety and comfort to their passengers.