L9 the most innovative urban transport infrastructure in Europe
The construction of the L9 metro in Barcelona, where SOCOTEC manages the construction management marks a turning point for urban transport infrastructures.
It is a cutting-edge project that is defining the future of clean and efficient transport systems, and it will also be the longest metro line in Europe.
Urban connectivity in a compact city such as Barcelona implies a great challenge. Socotec together with TPF Getinsa Euroestudios and Tunelconsult, works with the premise of adopting innovative technology for resilient solutions.
Innovation, control and safety
After several years paralyzed, the restart of the works allows SOCOTEC to adopt the current digitalization methodologies, and implement BIM methods to ensure the thoroughness and control of the information, meeting the deadlines and achieving the optimization of public costs.
In addition, the implementation of the tunnel boring machine in this last section, as a construction system, provides safety in a changing environment at great depth (between 35 and 70 meters), since it is the machine itself that opens the way, extracts the soil and closes the tunnel duct with voussoirs.
L9 benchmark for urban infrastructures
Once the work is finished, L9 will be the longest metro line in Europe, with a total length of 47.8 km, of which 43.7 are underground. It will confirm the largest investment that the regional Government of Catalonia has made up to now.
Given the characteristics of this mega-infrastructure and the overcoming limits to enter the complex urban structure of Barcelona, “it is becoming a benchmark in urban transport strategies for smart cities", says Jordi Rosich, general director of the civil engineering in SOCOTEC Spain.
Our team welcomed the Leaders in Urban Governance Program (LUGP) grupHoo from the Government of Singapore. Accompanied by our technician Carla Flores and other members of the team, they had the opportunity to find out the state of execution of future facilities and even check the tunnel work from the TBM itself.
The case of the L9 is marking globally, a comprehensive and technological vision of transport, offering maximum accessibility and environmental sustainability.
