Argentina's national rail operator has awarded Indra a contract worth 35 million euros, under which the firm will deploy its access control and ticketing technology across the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (BAMA) rail network, one of the world's largest with more than 200 stations. The contract also includes system maintenance during a two-year period.
Indra will equip eight lines with 1,400 access control machines, known as turnstiles; 170 disabled entrances; 200 automatic recharging machines for contactless SUBE cards, which are used to access all public transport in thecity; as well as 150 on-board validators and 230 on-platform validators, which passengers use to pay their travel fare. The company will also supply 160 in-station transaction hubs and 300 journey inspection terminals.
A monitoring and control solution, which compiles information from a number of different subsystems and helps improve service management, will also be developed and implemented by Indra. The new technology will speed up passenger control and fare collection, while also helping to combat fraudulent use of the rail network.
This contract sees Indra reinforce its position as a smart technology provider for transport in Buenos Aires, where commuter train passengers, who make more than 1.4 million journeys each day, will use the company's systems to access the network and pay travel fares. Indra was involved in deployment of the city's bus fare system, using the contactless SUBE card, as well as converting existing turnstiles to the new payment system.
Cutting-edge transport technology
This ambitious project in South America's second largest city also consolidates Indra's position as one of the world's leading companies in smart technology applied to transport and urban mobility, with projects in cities including London, Medellin, Mexico City, Curitiba, Sao Paulo, Plovdiv, Wroclaw, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait and Manila.
Indra's ticketing technology has been implemented all over the world: in subways in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Lisbon, Santiago de Chile, Calcutta, Lima and Shanghai; the suburban railroad in Mexico City, Santiago de Chile, the commuter train in Austin and the St. Louis light rail system in the U.S. This year the company was awarded the world's largest ticketing contract to provide all ticketing and access control systems for the new public transportation system being built in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, including six subway lines and a fleet of 1,000 buses.
Indra in Argentina
Having operated in Argentina since 1993, Indra is increasingly active in the country and has offices in Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Rosario.
As well as the projects detailed above in Buenos Aires, in the transport market the company has deployed smart traffic control technology to improve traffic safety on a number of roads, while it has also supplied a dozen simulators to help train heavy goods vehicle drivers at the Argentinean Transport Federation Training Center (FADEEAC), the Truckers Mutual Association and the Argentinean Truckers Union.
In air traffic control, this year Indra was awarded a contract to deploy systems at air traffic control centers at the international airports of Mendoza, Resistencia and ComodoroRivadavia. This comes after the company modernized systems at the country's largest and busiest airport, Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, and at Cordoba Airport. A further four airports in Argentina will be equipped with Indra's Normac instrument landing systems, allowing aircraft to land in near zero visibility conditions while maintaining utmost safety standards.
Indra also provided an air traffic control center and control tower simulator to the Ezeiza Training and Experimentation Center, where many of the country's air traffic controllers are trained.
The company has also deployed other kinds of key systems in Argentina, including the Buenos Aires Centralized Emergency Coordination and Control Center, systems for numerous elections in the country and projects for leading firms in industry, energy, telecommunications, insurance and finance.