Spain is building the world

[Tietar]

Talgo Coming Back to Milwaukee

Talgo will be rebuilding 74 heavy rail cars for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro). The $73 million, 56-month contract will overhaul vehicles originally placed into service in the early 1990’s. The cars were originally manufactured by the now-defunct Italian firm Breda.


Red Line Subway Cars (Photo by The Port of Authority)

Spanish train manufacturer Talgo will reopen their facility in the Century City business park. The news was announced by Mayor Tom Barrett during his 2017 budget address before the Common Council. The facility at 3533 N. 27th St. has most recently been used by crews assembling the glass curtain wall for the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons, but Talgo has maintained a lease on a 25,000 square-foot section of the building for storage. As part of the deal, Talgo will expand their operations in the building and create dozens of jobs at the facility.

The cars are in use on the busiest lines in the Los Angeles subway system, running on the Red and Purple lines that serve a combined 149,096 daily rides. That total is greater than the daily ridership of the entire Milwaukee County Transit System. Service began on the lines in 1993.

Mayor Barrett has been actively involved in trying to bring Talgo back to Milwaukee, including meeting with the evaluation team from LA Metro when they did a site visit. Barrett slammed Governor Scott Walker during his budget address, noting “As hard as the governor worked to kill this project, we worked even harder to build a solid relationship with the company. And that paid off.” Talgo hopes to expand their portfolio of business in the United States to include work on subway and light rail vehicles, expanding beyond their intercity rail offerings.

Talgo CEO Antonio Perez said “with this opportunity we show LACMTA that our knowledge and experience in the sector make Talgo the perfect choice to improve the performance of trains serving in the railway network of the city,” in a press release posted on the firm’s Spanish language website.

Talgo had manufactured four of their Series 8 trainsets at Century City. Two of those Milwaukee-made trains are now in service with Amtrak’s Cascades Service, running between Eugene, Oregon and Vancouver, Canada with stops along the way including Portland and Seattle. The other pair, originally intended to operate on the Amtrak Hiwatha Service between Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison will finally enter service in California. The company employed more than 80 people in Milwaukee to build the trainsets.

The move comes as a surprise, given that the Talgo CEO blasted Walker in a 2012 a story by Urban Milwaukee, complaining that “Gov. Walker does not keep his word. It’s like we’re talking about a Third World country, where people don’t have respect for their contracts.” The state and Talgo finally settled a lawsuit in 2015, with the state paying an additional $9.7 milion to Talgo for the trainsets. In total, the state will have paid nearly $50 million for trains that it never owned.

As part of the settlement, Talgo maintains ownership of the trainsets and can sell them to another buyer. If Talgo were to sell the trains, 30% of the net proceeds from a future sale are required to be returned to Wisconsin (up to $9.7 million). Wisconsin had originally agreed to buy the trainsets in 2009 for $47.5 million as part of Governor Jim Doyle‘s jockeying to win a high speed rail grant. Doyle’s bet did pay off, Wisconsin won a $810 million high-speed rail grant to connect Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, but the funds were revoked by the federal government after Walker was elected and promised to end the project.

Talgo has yet to sell the trainsets, and instead leased them to a California transportation agency in August on a five-year deal for $15 million. They will operate on the 351-mile rail corridor between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, offering a travel time reduction of 25 minutes. The trains will be operated by the Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency. LOSSAN received an $82 million grant from the state of California for improvements to the corridor. The LOSSAN corridor provides 7.2 million annual rides on over 150 daily passenger trains including Amtrak Pacific Surfliner intercity service and Metrolink and COASTER commuter trains.

The facility Talgo will operate in is owned by the city-affiliated Century City Redevelopment Corporation. The REV Group, led by Tim Sullivan, will soon begin manufacturing a prototype “Liberty” vehicle for the United States Postal Service in the building and hopes to win a contract that would create about 1,000 jobs at Century City to build the vehicles. REV Group is competing against five other bidders. The winner is expected to be announced in 2018.

http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2016/09/26...-to-milwaukee/

[Tietar]

Spain to build pilot greenhouse for Egyptian government

Tecnova Research Centre based in Almeria, southern Spain, has signed a contract for building a High Productivity Pilot Greenhouse in El Cairo region.

The Egyptian government is looking to modernise its agriculture in order to develop the economy, creating new jobs and improving population wealth.

Last March, an Egyptian delegation visited different European countries in order to get to know the greenhouse industry first-hand. They were very interested in what had happened in Almeria during the last 30 years. From being one of the poorest areas in Spain, it is now the largest greenhouse concentration worldwide and the most important vegetable producer during the winter season.









The model of Tecnova Research Centre was also quite surprising for the Egyptian delegation as Tecnova is a private entity whose 126 partners are the private companies that provides greenhouse technology.

Almeria being a very warm and dry area, Tecnova has developed a High Productivity Greenhouse Model for Warm and Hot Climate Conditions. Most of the world population is living in warm and hot countries and because of the climate change, more areas will become even warmer. Natural resources (land, water, etc.) are getting scarce and with worse quality.

Last August, the Minister of Agriculture of Egypt , Prof. Dr. Essam Osman Fayed, with an eleven person delegation visited Tecnova for the last details of the project.

Finally, at the beginning of September, the Chairman of Tecnova, Mr. Angel Barranco, went to El Cairo to sign the contract.

The inauguration of the Tecnova’s High Productivity Pilot Greenhouse will take place beginning 2017 by the President of Egypt, Mr. Abdelfatah Al-Sisi.

http://www.hortidaily.com/article/29...ian-government

[Tietar]

Councils reach milestone in project to build major sustainable energy plant

The contract to build a state-of-the-art energy-from-waste plant for Edinburgh and Midlothian was signed today with environmental services company FCC Medio Ambiente SA.



Environment leaders from the City of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils joined FCC on Thursday (6 October) to finalise the 25-year contract to build and operate the facility at Millerhill, Midlothian.

In December 2014 FCC was named as preferred bidder by the partnership Zero Waste: Edinburgh and Midlothian to design, construct, finance and operate the plant. This will be fuelled by waste collected by both councils that would otherwise go to landfill.

The Councils have been supported throughout the procurement by Scottish Futures Trust, a Scottish Government-appointed body, which has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to Zero Waste.

Construction is set to begin imminently, with the plant expected to begin operation in 2018.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “I am pleased that FCC will now be able to begin work on this state-of-the-art facility. In Edinburgh we have made great progress increasing the amount of waste we recycle. This new facility will provide a sustainable way of disposing of any waste that can’t be recycled by using it as an energy source for locally-generated heat and power.

“The procurement of this project is an example of successful partnership working between the two councils, and will benefit both Edinburgh and Midlothian’s zero waste strategies over the coming years.”

Councillor Jim Bryant, the Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Midlothian Council, said: “This is another exciting milestone in an innovative project that will turn a derelict, brownfield site into an energy production centre.

“This represents another sizeable infrastructure investment in the Shawfair area. In addition to increasing recycling rates, the plant will produce electricity for the National Grid.”

The contract to process up to 135,000 tonnes of mixed waste annually will provide a long-term, competitively priced solution for the recovery of value from the landfill waste collected by City of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils.

It is hoped the project to treat both food and landfill waste on the site, creating renewable energy in the process, will help both authorities contribute to the national recycling target of 70% by 2025 and the national landfill diversion target of 95% by 2025.


http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/art...e_energy_plant

[Tietar]

Spanish Business Schools Are Better For Entrepreneurs Than Stanford, Suggests FT Study

Spain is the top study destination for start-up founders, followed by Switzerland and the US



When we think of entrepreneurial ecosystems, Stanford University, right in the heart of Silicon Valley, tends to spring to mind.

However, those considering setting up a business should instead consider Spanish business schools.

That’s according to new research from the Financial Times.

The FT analysed full-time and executive MBA alumni who graduated in 2013 from top-ranked schools.

It found Spanish institutions are best for entrepreneurship, followed by Switzerland in second and the US in third.

Timo Buetefisch founded Cooltra Motos, a motorcycle rental start-up, in 2006. Since then, the company has grown to have a fleet of 5,000 and 100 employees. Turnover was €7 million in 2015, up 40% on 2014.

Timo says IESE Business School, based in Barcelona, supported the company in securing funding and customers. He earned an MBA there in 2004.

“Immediately, they trusted me and my projects,” he says.

US business schools have some of the best MBA programs in the world, such as at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and the Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.

But in the FT ranking, the overall score of US schools was brought down by those with fewer entrepreneurs. Just 19% of alumni who studied at US schools launched a start-up, compared with 26% for Spain.

That’s despite key advantages for a school like Stanford, which has close connections to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Stanford MBA Sam Hodges is the US managing director for Funding Circle, a fintech start-up valued at about $1 billion. Sam says the broader Stanford ecosystem has been helpful in founding the UK-based company’s US operations.

“The ability to share knowledge and learn from each other is great. We are able to attract talent across the board. And a number of our seed investors were our Stanford alums,” he says.

The FT criteria is based on metrics such as the proportion of students who set up a company after graduation, the percentage who raise equity, and the proportion of companies still operating three years later.

The findings contradict past rankings of MBA programs for entrepreneurship, which are dominated by US schools. When the FT ranked the top-25 institutions for founders in June, 15 of them were in the US. Spain’s IE Business School was the top non-US school ranked in June.

More than 250 start-ups are born at IE in Madrid each year, the school claims. Its on-campus accelerator, Area 31, can accommodate for up to 100 start-up teams per annum.

Isabelle Delacave says the IE ecosystem gave her the motivation to launch her venture, From Belgium with Love, an e-commerce platform that sells high-quality European baby brands in Australia.

“Entrepreneurship is the DNA of IE,” says the MBA graduate. “I carry part of that in me.”

ESADE, Spain’s other top business school, is home to ESADECREAPOLIS, an innovation ecosystem for students and companies, and EGarage, a space designed for the cultivation of new start-ups.

“Since our founding over 50 years ago, entrepreneurship has always been in our DNA,” says Luisa Alemany, director general of the ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute.

http://www.businessbecause.com/news/...-entrepreneurs

[Tietar]

North–South passenger trainset arrives in Riyadh

SAUDI ARABIA: The first of six trainsets being supplied by CAF for passenger services on Saudi Railway Co’s North–South line is undergoing trials on the 1 130 km route between Na’ariyah and Riyadh, with entry into service planned for early 2016.



The passenger fleet is being supplied under a 533m riyal contract signed in March 2012. The order includes the diesel-electric locomotives which top-and-tail the trains, and business and economy class coaches, sleeping, dining and restaurant cars, luggage vans and car-carrying vans which can be formed in various way to produce nine-car day or 13-car night trains. The vehicles are designed for 200 km/h operation in temperatures up to 55°C.



The passenger service is intended to promote commercial and urban development in the cities linked by the North–South Railway, helping to draw industrial investment to the area.



Under a separate contract CAF has supplied four similar trainsets to Saudi Railways Organization for use on the Riyadh – Dammam line, taking the total value of its rolling stock orders in Saudi Arabia to more than €400m.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/t...in-riyadh.html




CAF Wins "Manufacturer of the year" at global light rail awards

CAF has won the coveted internationally acclaimed “Manufacturer of the Year” at the prestigious Global Light Rail Awards held earlier this week in London.

Recently CAF has successfully delivered new trams to Birmingham, UK; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Saint-Etienne, France; Budapest, Hungary; Cincinnati and Kansas City, USA.

The award was collected by Richard Garner, Business Development Director CAF UK and Ireland from Rt. Hon. Paul Maynard MP, Under-Secretary of State for Transport. Acknowledging victory Richard sail: “This is fantastic news for CAF; it is great to see the projects which CAF has been involved within the UK and overseas being recognised by eminent judges as achieving world class status. CAF are absolutely delighted”.

Additionally, Tranvía Zaragoza was the winner of the “Best Environmental and Sustainability Initiative” category and also Highly Commended for the “Team of the Year”. CAF Urbos trams operate in the city centre of Zaragoza using its advanced and leading edge “Greentech” technology meaning that the trams can run without unsightly overhead catenary wires.

Edinburgh Trams was also acclaimed winner in the “Most Improved System” category and Highly Commended in the “Best Customer Initiative”. CAF has provided the trams used on this network.

The West Midland Combined Authority was the winner for the “Project of the year over €50m” for the Birmingham City Centre Extension of the Midland Metro Line 1 allowing CAF Urbos trams to connect Birmingham Snow Hill station to Birmingham New Street station.

http://www.caf.net/en/sala-prensa/no...alle.php?e=202

[Anglojew]

That's actually impressive

[Tietar]

Graphenea to become the largest graphene supplier

Preparations are on track for mass production of 200 mm (8”) diameter high quality graphene on Si/SiO2 wafers. Last week cleanroom components arrived to be assembled in a new production space at our location in San Sebastian. Production of 200 mm graphene on a new chemical vapor deposition system is expected to be up and running at the beginning of 2017.


Cleanroom equipment for the new production line arriving at Graphenea.

The investment in the new lab will increase the company’s production capacity and quality of graphene wafers. The new addition will represent a tenfold expansion of our production space, where we currently routinely manufacture high quality graphene with a diameter of 100 mm (4”). The production capacity will increase 20-fold with the addition of the new line, where we will produce 4”, 6”, and 8” wafers as standard.

Graphenea, a leading company in graphene production and a venture backed by Repsol and CDTI, was established in 2010, and has since grown to be one of the world's largest providers of graphene. The company is headquartered at the nanotechnology cluster CIC nanoGune in San Sebastian, Spain and Boston. Graphenea employs 15 people and exports graphene materials to more than 400 customers in 55 countries. The company has focused on constant improvement of graphene quality, becoming a supplier customers can rely on. Graphenea employs a team of skilled laboratory staff who have brought graphene film production techniques to a new level, offering the same high quality films on any substrate. Graphenea produces CVD graphene wafers up to 4 inches and graphene oxide in volumes up to 5 liters per package. Graphenea partners with large multinationals to develop custom graphene materials for their applications. Its research agility and ability to keep pace with the progress of graphene science and technology has allowed Graphenea to become the largest graphene supplier in the Graphene Flagship, a ten year project of the European Commission worth a billion euros. The company keeps a close relation with the world's leading scientists, regularly publishing scientific articles of the highest level.

http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=35117

[Tietar]

Indra will implement the technology to manage air traffic of Germany and Holland

The consultancy and technology firm Indra will implement the new generation systems that will manage air traffic in Germany and Holland, according to information provided by the company in a statement.

Indra signed, yesterday in Amsterdam, the contracts with the German navigation services supplier DFS and with the Dutch LVNL, according to which these entrust the Spanish multinational with the development and implementation of the management systems to control the air traffic called iCAS (iTEC Centre Automation System), in the control centres of Germany and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

http://thediplomatinspain.com/en/ind...y-and-holland/


what is iTEC?


Indra leading the way
May 2016

Indra is finalizing development of a new air traffic controller position, the iTEC CWP, which will incorporate the latest features in graphical information display and interface technologies, featuring voice and gesture interaction, line-of-sight detection, as well as touchscreen and keyboard interfaces.

The iTEC CWP's innovative approach to ensuring more natural interaction will simplify repetitive tasks, making for greater efficiency and allowing controllers to manage larger traffic volumes. The Indra air traffic controller position acts as the interface for the iTEC system, the most advanced automated air traffic management platform currently in operation.

The new design of the iTEC CWP position includes a simple and intuitive interface to help controllers focus on the most relevant information. The system thus integrates communications, flight plan information, aircraft trajectory management and radar surveillance information, all in a single working environment. It will also provide assessments of the likely impact on air traffic had by meteorological conditions.

The system will feature all the latest generation tools for coordination, route modification, conflict detection and land-air data links.

The iTEC CWP also provides flexibility, allowing controllers to configure the information that is displayed on-screen. Thus, they can adapt the position to best suit their role in the control room, while the high definition screen will make for better data visualization and reduce fatigue.

Another important aspect of the new iTEC CWP is the significantly lighter hardware, creating a more silent system that generates no heat, meaning energy savings and a more comfortable working environment. This drives down maintenance requirements and renders the system easier to transport and deploy at air traffic control centers across the world.

iTEC, four million flights in 2015

iTEC is Indra's latest generation air traffic control system, developed in partnership with air navigation service providers in Spain (ENAIRE), United Kingdom (NATS) and Germany (DFS), while the Dutch provider (LVNL) has also joined the project. Their counterparts in Norway (AVINOR), Poland (PANSA) and Lithuania (Oro Navigacija) have likewise recently expressed an interest in adhering to the initiative, having signed a letter of intent that may see them adopt the system.

iTEC is currently the most advanced latest generation system in existence, with operations having begun this year at Prestwick Airport (Scotland). Toward the end of this year iTEC will oversee 3 million km2 of European airspace and 4 million flights each year, a figure that is set to double over the next five years to 8 million flights annually. The four navigation service providers that are already behind the initiative will see iTEC manage one third of air traffic in the continent, all of which will mean significant savings in terms of flight time, fuel and costs.

The air traffic controller position represents a crucial component in efficient air traffic management. The new developments that Indra has included in the iTEC CWP will allow its partners to select those functions that best suit their needs.

Courtesy ATC Network Bulletin #202 May 2016

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/indra...ohan-swanepoel

[Tietar]

De Lijn selects CAF to supply 146 LRVs

BELGIAN light rail operator De Lijn has selected CAF as preferred bidder for a contract to supply 146 low-floor LRVs for Antwerp, Ghent and the West Flanders coastal line.



The deal has an estimated value of around €320m and is De Lijn’s largest-ever investment in new vehicles. The order will enable the replacement of the coastal fleet and PCC trams in Antwerp and Ghent, as well as increasing fleet capacity for operation on new lines. Delivery of the metre-gauge vehicles is due to start in 2018.

According to the tender, which was issued in March 2014, De Lijn requires 62 LRVs for the West Flanders coastal line linking Knokke, Ostend and De Panne, including five vehicles for a proposed extension to Veurne. Antwerp will receive 66 LRVs and Ghent 18 units.

CAF’s competitor in the tender, Bombardier, has lodged an appeal against De Lijn’s decision, which is due to be heard by the Council of State on November 22.

The ACV union says it is concerned the decision to award the contract to CAF could jeopardise the future of Bombardier’s plant at Bruges, although the consequences for the facility if Bombardier fails to win the tender are not currently known.

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php...-146-lrvs.html

[Tietar]

Ferrovial trumps Transurban to win $4b US express lanes project

Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton said expansion in the US remained "core" to the tollroad group's strategy after losing a $4 billion tender to build new express lanes on Virginia's Interstate-66 highway to Spain's Ferrovial.



"Expanding our footprint in the USA remains core to Transurban's strategy and we will continue to explore further opportunities with our partner in Virginia and consider other potential markets in North America," Mr Charlton said on Friday.

Ferrovial's tollroad subsidiary, Cintra, infrastructure fund Meridiam and Virginia construction group Allan Myers were chosen by Virginia as the preferred consortium to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a new section of the Interstate 66 highway near Washington DC known as 66 Express Lanes.

The successful Spanish tender could have implications for future tollroads in Australia because Ferrovial has indicated it is keen to use its recent acquisition of local contractor Broadspectrum to bid more actively for road projects.

Transurban is understood to be disappointed to have missed out on the project. Ferrovial's bid is believed to have been at least US$500 million ($650 million) lower than Transurban's.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said the Ferrovial consortium's bid was the best from "a technical and financial standpoint".

http://www.afr.com/business/ferrovia...0161103-gsht09