To help ease the burden of transport from its roads, Barcelona relies heavily on its underground rail network, the Metro. However, the city has a population of 4.5 million and around the same number of tourists each year, so two new lines (L9 and L10) are currently under construction which will run 29.7 miles – from the airport to the centre of Barcelona. The lines will be fully automated, with driverless trains and platforms which do not require conductors.
Abantia, a global engineering solutions provider, is responsible for delivering the project. Albert Cabre, Abantia Communication systems director, said: “It was decided that the new lines should be fully automated because this will mean that they can run 24/7, all year round. However, it also means that we have to deliver an extremely reliable system which is operational 99.98% of the time; meaning there is room for about 10 minute’s downtime per year.”
The automation and environmental control requirements of the project mean that in each of the stations it will be necessary to install a data centre for all of the equipment. Throughout the 52 stations it was estimated that over 750 19” rack cabinets, each standing at 47U, would be required to facilitate the main system and the back-up system along with any further cabling requirements.
The stations are located approximately 90m underground with no lift access, but the racks are over 2m high. Abantia was therefore keen to source a solution which would allow the installation time to be kept to a minimum without compromising on the reliability.
Carbre continues: “It was estimated that it would take almost four hours to transport a single rack down the 15 floors and install them within the data centre. Repeating this process more than 750 times would have a serious effect on the delivery schedule so it was decided that we should seek an alternative solution. We had worked with Retex on a few other projects so approached them to see if they could offer help. Fortunately they have developed a flat-pack rack design which allows our engineers to build the rack once it’s in situ. The rack is so quick to put together that we were able to install each unit in just under an hour, taking 75% off our estimated times.”
A light yet robust solution
Being a flat-pack design, the Logic2 19” rack range from Retex offers a volume reduction of up to 70% during delivery, meaning that they can be easily moved to their desired location and navigated through narrow corridors, stairwells and doorways. Once the rack is in position it can be assembled in less than five minutes using just eight bolts. The assembly process is said to be extremely simple, and it is impossible to miss a stage out, meaning that if it looks complete it is complete.
The range is constructed predominantly from lightweight yet robust aluminium parts, which are precisely machined and fit together tightly. Once built, the rack can bear over 1,500kg of static load.
Alan Lewis, business development manager for Retex UK, adds: “The Logic2 range has been specifically developed with projects similar to the Barcelona Metro extension in mind… Once built, we are confident that the range offers the same reliability as any pre-built model on the market, meaning that in applications where 100% reliability is critical you couldn’t ask for a better rack.”
Cabre said: “Having tested the Logic2 range thoroughly we are satisfied that it offers the same robust performance as any other premium rack product on the market. The range is incredibly flexible, with many sizes and accessories available, and the advantages of the flat pack design are undeniable.”
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