Line 1 of the Seville Metro, is now in the final stages of construction. The infrastructure of this new Metro line uses cutting-edge technology. One example is the choice of Platform Gates or Platform Screen Doors (PSD), which are increasingly used by the most modern Metro systems world-wide.

The main purpose of these doors is to ensure the line’s safety and security by making it impossible for people to access the rails from the platforms. They also permit automatic train operation, as their use means that train drivers are no longer necessary.

Over the eighteen kilometres of the Seville Metro’s Line 1, from Ciudad Expo (Mairena del Aljarafe) to Montequinto, 21 of the line’s 22 stations will have Platform Screen Doors. These are being supplied by FAIVELEY, a leading company for this type of installation at the international level. FAIVELEY has chosen MP for the mechanical and electrical assembly and line commissioning, as well as for warehouse logistics and the supply of materials to the stations. This project is being carried out by the Technical Services department, part of the MP Corporation’s Engineering and Industrial Services area.

The Platform Screen Doors are in a screen about three metres high, which runs the length of the platform in each station, made up of a steel and plate glass structure. There are automatic doors on each platform, located at the positions reached by the train doors when it stops in the station. They open and close at the same time as the coach doors. The rest of the screen is made up of fixed panels, with “anti-panic” doors for use in emergencies.

The Platform Screen Doors are in a screen about three metres high, which runs the length of the platform in each station

This type of infrastructure was first installed on Metro lines about 25 years ago. At present, they are widely used in South-East Asia, and are becoming more common in Europe. Due to the guarantee of improved passenger safety and their other advantages, such as energy savings produced when the screens completely close off the platform and insulate it from the tunnel area, the option of driverless operation, and of electrifying the line using a third rail at track level, increasing numbers of European Metro systems are opting for this technology. Examples are Barcelona, Paris, London, Rome, Lille, Lausanne, and now Seville.

Work on this project started in August, and the plans are to complete it in February 2009.

Alfonso Mora Figueroa
Railway Engineering Manager