Thales is committed to sustainable and digital mobility as a driver of Spain’s economic recovery through European funding
6th April 2021.- Thales, as an expert in digital solutions for sustainable mobility, has submitted its proposal to head four PERTEs (Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation) to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to execute the NextGenerationEU package of Community funds. Specifically, they have been submitted to the Public Consultation recently launched by the Ministry to gather proposals from different public and private bodies and to define the new Support Programme for Sustainable and Digital Transport 2022-2026.
The projects submitted by Thales revolve around the digital transformation of railway infrastructures to achieve a disruptive impact on efficient and sustainable mobility on a national scale.
Firstly, and with the focus on optimizing rail transport of goods, it has proposed the automation of intermodal nodes for 24 ports around the whole of Spain and 2 European ones, a project that will bring greater logistical competitiveness and a carbon footprint reduction to all supply chains.
It is also committed to a disruptive technological leap forward through the fusion of railway security technologies and the space industry with the implementation of the satellite-based Level 3 ERTMS for regional lines where telephone signalling is still being operationally used, thus avoiding having to depend on the human factor and reducing investment in the network’s installed infrastructure.
From the point of view of efficiency in running the network, the implementation was proposed of systems for remote steering within 23 railway logistics and maintenance bases in Spain.
And in its pledge to decarbonize the transport industry to 2030, and to fulfil the commitment to net-zero emissions, the GreenRail initiative has been put forward which, based on implementing Thales’s own technology, will optimize and assist railway driving on the conventional and commuter network around the whole of Spain.
“Thales, as a leading player in the Spanish rail network, is committed to the digital transformation of the transport infrastructure through an important public-private investment that contributes to an economic recovery through sustainability and efficiency for both the network operator and for its users”, said Fernando Ortega, Transport Business Director in Spain.
