Controlling a complex and rapidly changing transportation network demands total integration, which a program called DaVinci, designed by the information company Indra, supplies for Spain’s network. DaVinci incorporates data that includes trains, signaling, energy inputs, timetables, and so on, and, with added algorithms to predict future delays or changes to the trains, allows the control room to easily manage the entire system in real time.

Indra first took its control experience overseas to the metro of Medellín, Colombia. The metro had been in operation for 15 years, running off what at the time was advanced metro technology. But the existing system was expensive to maintain, could not be scaled up to meet the needs of a growing city, and was 100 percent manually operated.

“One of the great advantages of DaVinci is that it can meet all those needs,” says Antonio García, Indra’s business development manager. “It can use any physical technology, or any information technology—IBM, HP, Oracle, whichever—that is available in the market.”

Indra worked with the Colombian metro authority to design a system that would integrate all existing information available for the Medellín metro (including traffic, communication, energy, and related systems), and process it to allow for more automated control. This allowed Medellín to add trains to existing lines and build additional stops, all at a significantly reduced cost. Indra is now working with London’s transportation system to expand and improve the management of its infrastructure as well.

Indra is also bringing DaVinci to Lithuania. The government of Lithuania wanted to upgrade its system and expand the num­ber of trains running along its routes. They too turned to Indra because the DaVinci system can integrate the information from the existing technology and process it automatically, without the need to buy additional hardware.

“From now on, they will be able to grow as much as they need to grow, wherever they want, and they can choose whichever technology they’d like,” says Desirée Meza, a senior engineer in Indra’s railway infrastructures division. “They will not need to change an entire system” to achieve significant improvements.

DaVinci Traffic Control Center. Source: Indra

Madrid's innovations

In 1919, at the opening of Madrid’s new subway system, the entire track covered only two miles. Less than a hundred years later, the tracks have expanded to more than 175 miles in total, covering 12 nearby towns. These advances have garnered the Madrid Metro Authority a number of awards, including one for innovative use of technology awarded in 2009 at the International Metro Rail Forum.

Madrid Metro underwent a complete overhaul, implementing the most advanced technology, such as automated trains, and more than doubling the length of its tracks. After two major periods of renovation and expansion, more than 75 percent of citizens in the region live within easy access of a station, and half of all trips in the city are taken on public transportation.

Madrid Metro developed its own in-house research program, and it cooperates with Spanish and Latin American universities and companies to create technologies both for its own system and for export to other metros. They worked with the Polytechnic University of Madrid and Indra to create a new driver-training simulator that significantly cuts down on track-based driving practice while ensuring that new drivers achieve equal or greater competency. Madrid Metro has also developed advanced fixed overhead electric lines that allow trains to increase their maximum speed by 25 percent.

Controlling a complex and rapidly changing transportation network demands total integration, which a program called DaVinci, designed by the information company Indra, supplies for Spain’s network. DaVinci incorporates data that includes trains, signaling, energy inputs, timetables, and so on, and, with added algorithms to predict future delays or changes to the trains, allows the control room to easily manage the entire system in real time.

Indra first took its control experience overseas to the metro of Medellín, Colombia. The metro had been in operation for 15 years, running off what at the time was advanced metro technology. But the existing system was expensive to maintain, could not be scaled up to meet the needs of a growing city, and was 100 percent manually operated.

“One of the great advantages of DaVinci is that it can meet all those needs,” says Antonio García, Indra’s business development manager. “It can use any physical technology, or any information technology—IBM, HP, Oracle, whichever—that is available in the market.”

Indra worked with the Colombian metro authority to design a system that would integrate all existing information available for the Medellín metro (including traffic, communication, energy, and related systems), and process it to allow for more automated control. This allowed Medellín to add trains to existing lines and build additional stops, all at a significantly reduced cost. Indra is now working with London’s transportation system to expand and improve the management of its infrastructure as well.

Indra is also bringing DaVinci to Lithuania. The government of Lithuania wanted to upgrade its system and expand the num­ber of trains running along its routes. They too turned to Indra because the DaVinci system can integrate the information from the existing technology and process it automatically, without the need to buy additional hardware.

“From now on, they will be able to grow as much as they need to grow, wherever they want, and they can choose whichever technology they’d like,” says Desirée Meza, a senior engineer in Indra’s railway infrastructures division. “They will not need to change an entire system” to achieve significant improvements.

DaVinci Traffic Control Center. Source: Indra

Madrid's innovations

In 1919, at the opening of Madrid’s new subway system, the entire track covered only two miles. Less than a hundred years later, the tracks have expanded to more than 175 miles in total, covering 12 nearby towns. These advances have garnered the Madrid Metro Authority a number of awards, including one for innovative use of technology awarded in 2009 at the International Metro Rail Forum.

Madrid Metro underwent a complete overhaul, implementing the most advanced technology, such as automated trains, and more than doubling the length of its tracks. After two major periods of renovation and expansion, more than 75 percent of citizens in the region live within easy access of a station, and half of all trips in the city are taken on public transportation.

Madrid Metro developed its own in-house research program, and it cooperates with Spanish and Latin American universities and companies to create technologies both for its own system and for export to other metros. They worked with the Polytechnic University of Madrid and Indra to create a new driver-training simulator that significantly cuts down on track-based driving practice while ensuring that new drivers achieve equal or greater competency. Madrid Metro has also developed advanced fixed overhead electric lines that allow trains to increase their maximum speed by 25 percent.