0 1
To the Canal and beyond
The Panama Canal, opened in 1914, transformed shipping routes and trade across the globe and was one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century. For Panama today, it represents one of the main engines of what the International Monetary Fund calls "the most dynamic economy in Latin America in the last three decades", to which it contributes around 6% of GDP.
The Canal also has a determining impact on the territory and on the mobility of the more than two million Panamanians, half of the country's total population, who live in the capital and its metropolitan area.
Since 2015, Ineco has been providing services as an independent safety assessor for the construction consortia of the first two lines, and since 2021 also in the first phase of the new line 3, a unique project for many reasons: it will be the largest investment project in the country after the expansion of the Panama Canal (inaugurated in 2016), the first monorail line in the network and also the first to cross the Canal, through an underwater tunnel, which will bring the metro to the West Panama area, where more than half a million people live.
This is why the development of the metro network, which will be 10 years old in 2024, is considered a project of national interest and an opportunity to reorder urban growth and improve the city model, making it more accessible and balanced.
The Metro of Panamá, for which a total of nine lines are planned in the long term, currently has two lines already in operation, the third in the middle of construction and another two in the study phase, as well as a metrocable or cable car system (San Miguelito), also under study.
More than five decades in the service of urban transport
Ineco is currently involved in major urban transport projects in Spain and abroad, such as the new Silvertown tunnel being built in the centre of London, the extension of line 12 of Mexico City Metro, the suburban railway access to El Prat airport in Barcelona, the integration of the railway in the city of Valencia or the remodelling of the Atocha and Chamartín railway complexes in Madrid. All of them are part of a large experience of more than 55 years in urban transport engineering and consultancy work.
Other works in progress include participation in the modernisation of the suburban network in Sydney, Australia, the improvement of the accessibility of Spanish suburban stations throughout Spain, the new Mobility Control Centre in Gran Canaria and the supervision and validation of rolling stock for the Santiago de Chile, Medellín and Quito Metro networks.
The company's early works include metro networks studies such as the Bilbao in 1977, the Bogotá in 1981 and others. Over the last 30 years, the company has participated in numerous metro, tram and suburban train projects and works both in Spain (Madrid, Seville, Malaga, Valencia, Tenerife, Zaragoza...) and abroad: Brazil, Italy, Latvia, Serbia, Algiers, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, India or Australia.
It has also been involved in the construction, remodelling or extension of urban transport infrastructure: large railway complexes (Sants and La Sagrera in Barcelona, Atocha and Chamartín in Madrid), stations and suburban railway halts throughout Spain, modal interchanges (Moynihan in New York, 2021), tunnels (Recoletos, Sol-Gran Vía, in Madrid), railway integrations
It has also been involved in the construction, remodelling or extension of urban transport infrastructure: large railway complexes (Sants and La Sagrera in Barcelona, Atocha and Chamartín in Madrid), stations and suburban railway halts throughout Spain, modal interchanges (Moynihan in New York, 2021), tunnels (Recoletos, Sol-Gran Vía, in Madrid), railway integrations (Valencia, Logroño, Valladolid, León, Málaga....), improvement and humanisation of urban road sections (A Coruña 2021, Vigo, 2023), or ring roads in large cities (Rodoanel Mário Covas in São Paulo Brazil, 2016 or Paseo del Bajo in Buenos Aires, 2019), among others.
In the field of planning and demand studies, Ineco has more than five decades of experience providing support to public administrations in Spain and other countries (Morocco, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Oman, Algeria, Croatia, Malta) in (Morocco, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Oman, Algeria, Croatia, Malta) in the preparation of transport gauges, models and strategies, as well as urban mobility plans (Hospitalet de Llobregat, Logroño, A Coruña).
Ineco also promotes and develops different innovation projects in the field of digitalisation and new technologies applied to urban transport: smart stations and cities, improved accessibility, sustainable urban mobility, the fight against climate change, energy efficiency and clean energies, etc. In addition, in 2022, the report `La Bicicleta en la Ciudad´ (The Bicycle in the City) was presented, the first within the new knowledge and innovation space "Ineco Impulsa".
0 2
The metro reaches the West
The development of the Metro de Panamá network has been carefully planned to adapt it to the peculiarities of the urban environment of Panama City and its extensive but narrow metropolitan area, which the Canal divides into two large zones, connected by The development of the Metro de Panamá network has been carefully planned to adapt it to the peculiarities of the urban environment of Panama City and its extensive but narrow metropolitan area, which the Canal divides into two large zones, connected by the Centenario and The Américas bridges: On the east side, the historic and economic centre (Panama City and San Miguelito districts), where lines 1 and 2 are already operating, since 2014 and 2019, respectively. On the other side, the province of West Panama (Arraiján and La Chorrera), the one with the highest population growth in the region and in the country.
"The Metropolitan Area (...) is characterised by its elongated shape, with a length of more than 80 kilometres and an average width of 9 kilometres. Its urban development has been marked by the Panama Canal, the dividing element of the Province of Panama and West Panama. The canal changed the physiognomy of the area, bringing about a migration from the countryside to the city due to industrialisation and imports”. Urban Planning and Territorial Planning -Office of the Mayor of Panama
-
Image
Pie de imagenMap of zones of the Metropolitan Area of Panama. Source: Prefeasibility Study of the New Master Network of the Metro de Panamá System (February 2018) -
Image
Pie de imagenEvolution of the urban footprint of the Metropolitan Area between 1941 and 2014. Source: Mayor's Office of Panama
This configuration of the urban footprint, a narrow but long strip of land, results in long end-to-end travel times and congestion. The scarcity of land in the centre of Panama City and the construction of the Americas bridge, inaugurated in 1962, boosted population growth in the West Zone, where numerous single-family housing developments were built, which favoured the use of private vehicles.
Metro line 3 will meet the mobility needs of the 520,000 residents of the area, a figure that is expected to double by 2040. When it enters into operation at the end of 2026, it will have the capacity to transport more than 300,000 passengers a day and will reduce the average time to reach the other side of the Canal to 45 minutes, compared to the current average of 85 minutes (according to a study by CAF, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean).
"Panama Oeste has become the main expansion area of Panama City. Its growth has been accelerated and it has lacked instruments to guide and regulate urban development (...) Panama Oeste has in the construction of Metro Line 3 this great opportunity to reorganise its internal functioning, (...) consolidating itself as an independent urban nucleus, with sufficient localised employment, and all the services that a city must provide to ensure the quality of life of its inhabitants". Diagnosis and Urban Analysis of the Area of Influence of Line 3. Metro de Panamá IDB, 2017
The first phase of line 3 will reach Ciudad del Futuro, in the district of Arraiján, where the yards and workshops will also be located, in an area of 27 hectares. It will be about 25 km long and it has 11 stations, the first one underground (the Albrook interchange, where it connects with Line 1, and from which the tunnel section under the Panama Canal begins) and the rest on an elevated viaduct. In the second phase, the extension to La Chorrera is planned.
The works began in February 2021 and have a completion period of 54 months. They are currently 50% complete, according to Metro de Panamá. Initially, it was planned to cross the Canal with a bridge, but in the end a 4.5 km length tunnel was chosen, which will run for about 60 m. depth. It will be excavated with a 13.5 metre diameter tunnel boring machine in 22 months from the start of drilling, scheduled for the second half of 2024. According to Metro de Panamá, the first phase of line 3 is expected to be in service by the end of 2026.
0 3
International experts for Metro de Panamá
Ineco is participating in the project as an independent safety evaluator for the Korean consortium HPH Joint Venture (comprising the companies Hyundai, the construction company Posco, Hitachi and Mitsubishi), which was awarded the design, construction, train supply and commissioning of the third metro line by Metro de Panamá in 2020.
The consortium has experience in large infrastructure projects (railways, bridges, motorways, etc), and especially in the technology chosen for line 3, which is different from that of lines 1 and 2: an elevated monorail system, with rolling stock manufactured by Hitachi in partnership with Mitsubishi, like the one in the Korean city of Daegu, also built by the consortium.
What are ISAs?
Independent Safety Assessments or ISAs can only be carried out by an assessor accredited by an official entity (in Spain, ENAC, Entidad Nacional de Acreditación) like Ineco. They are essential to guarantee to a third party that any part of a railway system (track, installations, equipment and rolling stock), whether new or modified, are safe and can enter or continue in operation.
As early as the design phase, different types of safety studies and analyses must be carried out, from the specifications of each subsystem, through the detection of possible risks and the probability of their occurrence, to the actions to be taken to mitigate them and the complete certification that the entire system is safe and complies with the regulations.
These safety activities for the commissioning of all or part of a railway system (whether it is a new construction, as in the case of lines 2 and 3 of Metro de Panamá, or a modification, such as the expansion of line 1 capacity), are developed following a "V-shaped life cycle scheme, so called because it runs in parallel phases, but not necessarily coinciding, which start at the design stage and converge at the commissioning stage. Each activity is carried out by different agents (designer, verifier, validator).
The different types of safety studies are structured in the following phases: system concept and definition, risk analysis, identification of safety requirements and application, and finally design and implementation.
Since 2009, Ineco has been recognised as an inspection body for the Independent Safety Assessment of Railway Applications valid in the more than 70 countries with which ENAC has mutual recognition agreements, including the European Union, the USA, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India, the Arab Emirates, Panama, Israel and Mexico, among others.
The company has been carrying out ISAs on the Spanish railway network for more than a decade, including the commissioning of most of the high-speed lines equipped with ERTMS. Abroad, it has prepared safety studies for the Haramain High Speed Rail project, Saudi Arabia's first high-speed rail line, operational since 2018. In the case of both the Haramain and the Metro de Panamá, the same safety standard (the European CENELEC EN 50126 standard) that is applied on Spanish railway lines has been taken as the standard.
04
A monorail that will make history
Boarding of the first monorail train manufactured by Hitachi and laying of Line 3. Photos: Metro de Panamá
In the case of Panama City and its metropolitan area, the monorail was considered the most suitable rail system for L3, given the characteristics of the route, as it is elevated and occupies the minimum urban space, both horizontally and vertically, and is capable of climbing gradients better than the conventional metro, as well as its lower cost and faster execution.
With it, Ineco adds a new railway technology to its extensive experience in independent safety assessments, covering conventional rail, high-speed rail, metros and trams. In the case of Panama City and its metropolitan area, the monorail was considered the most suitable rail system for L3, given the characteristics of the route, as it is elevated and occupies the minimum urban space, both horizontally and vertically, and is capable of climbing gradients better than the conventional metro, as well as its lower cost and faster execution. With it, Ineco adds a new railway technology to its extensive experience in independent safety assessments, covering conventional rail, high-speed rail, metros and trams.
In the Metro de Panamá, Ineco began working for Alstom in 2015 on L1 (14 stations, 16 km), which had entered service a year earlier. Due to increased demand, the capacity of the trains was extended from 3 to 5 wagons (70 new wagons in total) which implied modifications in several subsystems, as well as in the connection with L2 in San Miguelito in 2019. Ineco has also worked in the extension of L1 to Villa Zaíta, (two stations) which entered into service in April 2024.
On L2 (16 stations, 21 km), in service since 2019, the company carried out, also for Alstom, the Independent Safety Assessment of all subsystems. It is worth mentioning the work to authorise the temporary opening of five stations for nine days to serve pilgrims from all over the world attending World Youth Day 2019, six months before the opening. Ineco was also in charge of the ISA for the extension of the line (L2B), a section of approximately 2 kilometres that connects the Instituto Técnico Superior del Este (ITSE) and the Tocumen international airport, and which entered service in June 2023.
For Metro de Panamá's L3, the company is in charge of assessing the safety of the rolling stock, signalling, communications, platform doors, power supply and contact line, infrastructure (running beams and turnouts), workshops and depots, and overall integration of all subsystems.
In December 2023, the Ineco team visited the Hitachi manufacturing plant in Kasado, Japan, from where the first of the 26 trains that will equip the line has already left for Panama. They will have 6 wagons each, with a capacity for 120 seated passengers, and a total of 1,000 passengers per train, and will run at a maximum commercial speed of 80 km/h. In the event of a power cut, the contact line system has batteries that would allow the train to reach the nearest station.
The company's professionals also travelled to Osaka to see in situ the operation of the city's monorail (video), the longest in Japan, and with rolling stock from the same manufacturer.
Peculiarities of the monorail
Hitachi will manufacture 26 trains, of 6 wagons each, which will be progressively shipped from Japan to Panama until 2025. Photo: Metro de Panamá
Compared to a conventional or "heavy" metro or railway, the monorail system (also called monorail, monorail or metro-rail) has some differences, apart from the main one: instead of running on two rails, it runs on a single guideway with a system of pneumatic tyres.
In terms of passenger carrying capacity, it is intermediate ; somewhat lower than a heavy metro but higher than a tram. Although they started out in amusement parks, zoos and airports, they are also part of urban transport networks in cities around the world.
In the city, they have advantages such as being lighter and less expensive than other types of railways. Also, by riding on tyres, monorails can can climb gradients of 6% smaller curve radii . Most of them are elevated, so they encroach on minimum of surface area , which at the same time poses other challenges , such as increased evacuation complexity in case of an emergency or changing tracks (detours) at height
