Thales won a EUR 2 million the automation and monitoring contract for Port of Marín rail system which will be equipped with a digital manager system to assist railway operations.
Following the 15-month execution period the movement of the port’s track equipment will be automated and remotely controlled.
By eliminating manual operations of the turnouts, the project will bring significant improvements in two essential aspects. In terms of workers’ occupational safety, mechanical elements that require manual effort will be replaced with motors and in terms of efficiency it will save time and reduce manoeuvring costs.
This will be achieved by equipping the rail-port operations with a digital operating aid manager that integrates the automation of mechanical elements, signalling and fibre-optic communications. In addition, the system will be responsible for verifying the status of the equipment and facilitating local and central monitoring of all rail-port activities.
The project will include the motorisation of switches and the installation of associated equipment to enhance and simplify operations. This will enable central monitoring of the presence of trains in the trackbed area of the site.
Under this contract, 7 km of rail system of the port will be equipped with digital technology to enhance operational efficiency. Port’s seven main lines with sidings for different goods transfer allow operations involving extra-long train configurations with no partitions. The port authority owns highly-specialised personnel trained as rail traffic managers for the arrival and dispatch of goods trains. Private operators also have specialist personnel and their own haulage vehicles.
The automation of Port of Marín rail system is essential to increase capabilities and to optimse its activities. The port is the first in Galicia to use railways for freight transport and among the first in the country in terms of the percentage of goods on rail with respect to the total operated annually in the port.
In Spain, Thales has already delivered its technology solutions for the ports of Ferrol-San Cibrao, Seville and Pacorbo-Bilbao. Recently, Port of Huelva awarded Thales 24-month contract to install new functionalities for the security installations of the rail terminals.
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