SPAIN’s Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has launched a pilot project through a consortium of infrastructure manager Adif, national operator Renfe, and engineering consultancy Ineco to test a set of innovative technological solutions at Málaga María Zambrano station designed to improve accessibility. The prototypes, which include solutions such as light projections, assistance robots, and smart totems, are aimed at making rail travel safer for people with disabilities.
The demonstrators are part of Motion FP1 for network management and mobility in a multimodal environment, one of the six flagship projects of the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking (ERJU) research and development programme.
The Gobo system is the first pilot project to be validated. This involves installing spotlights that project the international accessibility symbol (a white wheelchair on a blue background) onto the station platform, visually indicating the location of the accessible part of the train.
For the validation tests, which were conducted on May 23, the system was installed on two platforms of the Málaga commuter rail network and activated manually during the test, depending on the train composition. Passengers with reduced mobility, railway personnel, and specialised technicians participated in the test to provide feedback on the system's visibility, usability, and ease of comprehension.
“This information will allow the system's impact to be assessed and its future scalability to be studied, including potential automation based on real-time data on train composition,” Adif says.
Other pilot projects
Adif says that various validation events will be held at Málaga María Zambrano station during the coming months to test technologies “aimed at facilitating more autonomous, inclusive, and intelligent mobility in real-world environments.”
These include the installation of a help point, an accessibility totem, a touchscreen that offers personalised and accessible information on timetables, platforms, internal routes, and the ability to request assistance from an assistance robot, which is another of the pilot projects.
The system is connected to a mobile guidance app that includes tools such as a Navilens code guidance, which is a type of accessible QR code designed for people with visual impairments, accessible route map display, and ticket scanning.
