Argentina goes to default but with first world subway lines

The improvements in the subway will be immediate, coincide in pointing out sources of the sector. However, in order for this statement to be finalized, it is necessary to wait for definitions coming from the political sphere linked to the new concession, since on the strictly technological level everything is given for this to happen.

Once this process is resolved, the service will have real-time monitoring, acoustic intelligence for preventive maintenance, cameras to assess passenger traffic, better information and instantly.

This and much more is what the three consortiums interested in competing in the next tender of the Buenos Aires subway promise, whose certification will be defined in 2020, as can be read in this iProUP article.

The incorporation of technology is key in a public transport system. From the Keolis-Helport and Roggio-Metrovías consortiums, they say they are in a position to immediately take over the implementation of improvements and, in addition, anticipate that in just six months they will be perceived concretely. There is a third consortium in competition: Alstom - Ratp.

The most powerful is the current concessionaire, Roggio-Metrovias, which relies on the experience of an Argentine who has lived in Germany for more than two decades, Carlos Forlenza, to transform the service from innovations. The idea is to face a true digital transformation, in and out of the company, which will result in a better performance.

"We are evolving in a digital environment and this implies going beyond the processes so that everything is more agile. The objective is that the user is the main beneficiary, that the changes are focused on their experience," Carlos Forlenza told iProUP , during a visit he made to Buenos Aires.

Forlenza is director of the Digital Transformation department of Deutsche Bahn, the main railway company in Germany. He says that from the huge portfolio of solutions used in Europe, there is a group that can be quickly implemented and will have a strong direct impact.

The local proposal

As stated by Forlenza, the technological initiative of Roggio-Metrovías is then based on five axes:

1.- Digital competence center: the idea is to make an adaptation of the equipment brought from Germany

2.- Real-time monitoring: the availability of data for predictive maintenance. The company uses the Diana platform to cross information from sensors located in the formations and in the bulk of the infrastructure. In this way, blocks of records are grouped together and more efficient decisions are made.

3.- Acoustic intelligence for predictive maintenance: anticipating damage and sending preventive crews translates into a 25% savings in maintenance costs. This applies, for example, stairs and elevators and other devices

4.- Smart cameras: these devices enable the analysis of materials and infrastructure, plus passenger traffic

5.- Training of personnel with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR): the premise is to avoid stopping training for issues related to operator learning

Forlenza says that once the digital competence center is installed, the rest of the proposals can be implemented in a period of six to eleven months. "This is a proposal for a first rapid deployment selection," he warns.

Remember, in addition, that the plan also includes the updating of the railway workshops to add trains and services: "The improvement to the user will also be perceived quickly because he can use the system more and better. It will generate more passenger flow and its impact will be highly positive from a financial point of view. "

The foreign legion

For its part, the Keolis-Helport consortium is based on international experience in taking control of a functioning service. Bet on innovation and passenger flow management.

The technology applied to the user experience, frequency, maintenance, safety and hygiene are the pillars on which his proposal to improve the Buenos Aires subway is based.

For the company, it is necessary to increase the number of trainings in order to increase the frequency of the service. For this, it is essential to have intelligent platforms that process the data collected from the sensors.

This is an initiative similar to that of Metrovías and that is in line with the systems that use the most modern public transport services in the world. Automation, artificial intelligence feed on the information obtained through the different networked devices.

For Keolis-Helport it is not necessary to make large investments to improve the frequency, but it can be optimized with the incorporation of digital solutions that bring updated information in real time to staff and users.

Hence, the technical proposal is leveraged in setting objectives and results from the first quarter of the concession. The issue related to the availability of data will require one year.

Other aspects to which the heads of Keolis-Helport point their eyes are signaling: they consider it difficult to understand it as it is raised, which is why the work to be done in that aspect will be more gradual.

What is the proposal of Alstom - Ratp, the company that manages the Paris metro? One of its strengths is in the prevention of breakage or other incidents that disturb the normal operation of the service. And they do it through technology.

The firm has several solutions that allow you to automatically inspect for wear or other risk situations that may arise on trains. To this is added the preparation of a digital map to have precision on daily passenger traffic and, thus, implement improvements in service quality.

The company also contemplates modifications to the signaling from the incorporation of Big Data solutions so that the number of trains and frequencies is adjusted to that flow and efficiency is gained.

Is it possible to think about these new business models in Argentina? Is it feasible to import models from developed to emerging countries into a public service such as transportation? Forlenza says yes.

"The world is digital and who is not related to this will not survive," explains the expert, adding: "The digital transformation improves profitability and also the outputs to survive tomorrow."

The subway concession, now held by Metrovías, expires on December 31. At the relevant time, the Buenos Aires Government did not call for a new tender, so it is discounted that a new extension will be executed.

This situation has already occurred in 2017 and it is expected that during 2020 the process to call the participants to compete for a new concession will be addressed.

The companies will be ready to bring more technology to the subways and advance the digital transformation of Buenos Aires public transport.

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