South Depot
Construction of the EMT's South Depot and Central Garages
Integration in the urban environment
Background and chronology
The Agreement between the City Council and the "Universidad Politécnica"
Since the City Council of Valencia and the "Universidad Politécnica de Valencia", signed a collaborative agreement in July of 1986, which contained the establishment of an undetermined number of agreements to offer service and investigation work. Both institutions have kept on collaborating to the present day and will keep on doing so in the future.
One of these agreements was the one they signed on the 31st of July 1992, putting the Universidad Politecnica in charge of the definition, design, organization and creation of the project for the construction of the EMT Valencia's new Garages located in the neighbourhood of San Isidro.
The signing of this agreement had the main aim of creating a Directive Plan and a Project for the construction of the Garages and the South Depot, that would be determined by a series of conditions such as the elaboration in only one phase of a bus parking area with a capacity of 350 vehicles and garages that should have the expected capacity to offer revision, inspection and maintenance to a total of 600 busses.
Directive Plan
The creation of the directive plan entailed the creation of a report about the implantation of the EMT's Central Garages and South Depot, which needed research on the the different possible options, after having reviewed the EMT's activity and other european urban transport companies with a similar magnitude to that of Valencia.
The directive plan has the aim of studying and defining the construction work for the facilities needed to cover the necessary elements in order to configure the New Garages define it's location, define it's basic characteristics and it's features, by taking into account the determinating elements and conditions such as:
a. Construction
Construction of Garages, Services, Superintendant's Office, Fuel Pumps, Service Stations,Cleaning Areas,etc.
b. Urbanization and Infrastructure
Link with the exterior, Subterranean level, Parking, etc.
c. Sporting-Recreational and Parking areas
Construction of the EMT's South Depot and Central Garages
The tasks prior to the construction of the New Garages and the South Depot, which basically involved preparing the construction site located in the neighbourhood of San Isidro began on the 7th of February 1994. During the month of June the Mayoress Rita Barberá placed the first stone on a construction site with a total budget of execution which can be found amongst the highest ever for a Municipal Transport Company with an amount of 1.533 million pesetas.The construction of these garages will fulfil an important role not only when it comes to technical aspects due to the fact that it will cover tasks such as maintenance and repairs of the entire EMT fleet, but, it will also be important due to it's social and civic aspect since it will offer it's surrounding environment a lot of care in the decoration of the buildings as well as trying to limit the environmental impact by trying to reduce different types of pollution such as noises, gases, etc. On the other hand the use of the area has been optimized since it also includes a 5.000m2 sporting-recreational area for the neighbours of San Isidro. The total area of the facilities is 70,000 m2, of which 25.000 m2 are used as a parking area for up to 350 busses.
Construction characteristics
Urbanization. Sorting out access
One of the factors prior to construction of the EMT garages which have conditioned the construction is that of sorting out and improving access to the garages and the effects this could have on the traffic in the nearby areas. There are two access gates that stand out, one that connects the extension of "calle Archiduque Carlos" at the "Polígono Vara de Quart" i.e: the "Camino Nuevo de Picanya" with another complementary to the V-30, at the opposite angle to the previously mentioned street and which connects with the "Avenida Gaspar Aguilar".
The other access gate due to it's magnitude and importance will be explained later giving a detailed description of construction of the inferior passway which would become the main gateway for busses.
LVehicles enter the garages through the intersection of "Archiduque Carlos / Camino Nuevo de Picanya" till they get to the new inferior passway by following the signs.
The new passageway which is 1980 m in length , is completely iluminated and was constructed following a simple and funcional design model using concrete as the main material.
Building destined for tasks such as a superintendant's office - revenue collection - clinic and trade union centers
This building located next to the main gate hosts the three following areas:
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Superintendant's Office: The usual functions of a superintendants office take place here. Security guards, devices to control the presence of drivers, lost and found, recollection office, etc are all found here.
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Clinic: Two doctors and two nurses currently work here, attending all the medical needs on a daily basis, as well as periodic reviews, treatment, rehabilitation and consultations.
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Trade Union Centres: In order to facilitate work for trade union representatives and the activity of the trade unions, 6 offices have been offered to them so that they can carry out their job.
Service building
There are several sections in this building that offers different general services:
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Canteen: It has a capacity for 120 people seated at tables. These facilities were created in order to give service to drivers and garage staff. Baisically, the canteen acts as a cafateria during the employees breaks whether they are on the morning, afternoon or night shift and as a canteen at lunch or dinner were autoservice is used.
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Auxiliary rooms: Used as meeting rooms with a capacity for 20 people and as classrooms for specific courses aswell as improving knowledge with a total capacity for 30 people.
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Nocturnal Maintenance Section: All the planning for the technical services aswell as the cleaning services takes place hear during the night shift.
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Service Station: There is the main service station with 6 pumps in the central plaza and a pump at the entry.
Main garage building
Different areas can be found in this area:
Vehicle diagnosis centre
It's main function is preventive maintenance of the fleet assigned to the South Deposit. With an area of 406 m2 , it uses on the most advanced technology and it's activities turn the EMT into the most innovative Spanish company on a European scale.
These activities include compulsory inspections (ITV) every year or semester (depending on the age of the vehicle) and voluntary company inspections (6 times more than the legislated amount); as well as preventive maintenance, repair checks and predictive maintenance of the busses.
Preventive: In comparison with the old CDV at the portalet, this new center has 2 service pits assigned to each one of the previously mentioned activities, allowing for continuous and agile inspection and revision work on the fleet, which means shorter and fewer inactive periods for the vehicle and therefore better service for customers. This center which is totally isolated with anti-noise material covering it , counts on the following equipment:
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2 machines to check on breaks.
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1 power bench.
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2 aligning plates.
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1 plate with gaps, etc.
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1 fan.
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2 machines for centralizad gasses and smoke.
All this equipment allows the CDV the diagnosis of important parameters of the motor, simulating work conditions of the bus on it’s daily service (weight of the passengers, aerodynamic resistance, direction of the wheels) as well as the normal checking of lights, tyres, oil, aligning, etc.
This center is also in charge of controlling the quality of the repairs that take place in garages, not allowing for the bus to continue with it's service untill it has not been repaired satisfactorily (by passing tests).
All these actions give the EMT fleet a high level of security.
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Predictive: Innovative system that has the aim of predicting when there will be technical problems in the busses day to day situations. By means of an experimental project that is being carried out by the Machine and Thermal Motor Departments of the "Universidad Politécnica de Valencia", the data obtained from inspections is administrated by a computerized processs which involves analisis and evaluation of this data through the "SISTEMA EXPERTO DE DIAGNOSIS" (EXPERT DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM).
Technical sections
Located in this zone are all the specialized garages that mainly work on the different mechanical groups, such as:
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Equipment management, Offices with an area of 172.44m2 for adminitrative and computer personnel.
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Facility maintenance. Occupies an area of 122,81 m2, in which a team of people can be found whose job is the maintenance (preventive and predictive) of EMT Facilities.
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Electricity and electronics. These are two different sections wich between them they occupy an area of 242 m2 and contain transformers, extractors, air conditioning systems, etc.
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Tyres. This section is in charge of maintenance and repairs of tyres.
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Storehouse: It's management is completely computerized and comes from the general storehouse. There are other minor strehouses such as:
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Spare part storehouse, contains spair pieces and substitute equipment in case of emergency.
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Flamable product storehouse.
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Used oil storehouse, containing two deposits for provisional recollection of used oils untill they are disposed of by the appropriate service.
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Injection, it's main aim is to repair and check the injection system in the bus motors, in order to do this it contains specialized equipment such as: benches for testing of injection systems, manual injectors, extractors, assembly press, etc.
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Planning. This office is equipped with computers, in order to collect the work done by administrative staff in charge of planning and controlling the work done in the warehouses that contain the Central garages, Deposit, Structure Garage, CDV and technical section of the central warehouse.
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Rubber and break lining, The first one of the two is in charge of repairing all the rubber circuits and devices on busses. The lining section is in charge of repairing and adjusting the lining on breaks in order for them to comply with the current legislation.
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Street furniture and fixtures.
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Paint, for minor painting jobs, it includes the poster sub-section and the poliester piece repair sub-section.
Central garage warehouse
Where all the important inspections and repairs of important damage on the busses takes place, whether it is mechanical or electric damage. It is expected that this facility will give service to the entire future fleet (600 busses in 15 years time).
This warehouse, in which the mechanic and electric repairs take place and that is expected to count on a number of 20 workers, is characterized for having a large zone without setting differences between areas, containing service pits and elevating columns in a 60%-40% proportion.
There have been important improvements made concerning the human factor specially when it comes to safety and work conditions.
Depot warehouse
At this warehouse small inspections and repairs take place on the 350 busses that are exlusively assigned to the South Depot. The main action that should be highlighted is the corrective maintenance that takes place by having small daily mechanical, electric or structural repairs.
This warehouse contains 16 service pits, out of which half of these are drive through and others contain cubicles.
Bodywork warehouse
In these premises the actions related to the bodywork (paint and metal) of all the busses in the fleet take place. It contains 9 work places of which 6 are to work on metal and the other 3 are for paint jobs.
Bus parking zone
The typology of the space used to park busses, which occupies half of the area of the lot, is of an ear shape and has a capacity of 350 vehicles spread out in 5 central docks that facilitate the daily cleaning tasks and the nocturnal maintenance.
Each one of these docks has units containing energy and water systems spread out over the area. They also contain fire hydrants and telephone lines in case of emergency.
The pavement used in the area destined to parking, is constructed by special concrete cobblestones, that avoid degradation of this pavement due to hydrocarbon and fuel residues from the vehicles.
On the other hand the criteria used to design the streets of this area has formed part of careful and ellaborate research that studied how to optimize the flow of traffic inside the premises.
Services
The equipment for the different services of the facilities has the most advanced technology in it's field and therefore this area is one of the most advanced in Europe.
Fuel pumps
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Auxiliary gateway pump: It is found close to the main gate and has the main aim of occasionally filling up busses during the morning.
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Main Station: Located between the Central Garages and the Service buildings, it has 6 double pumps , that suck fuel up from 5 tanks, and should be used daily by all busses when they finish their service.
An innovative element of the service stations is the fact that they incorporate an automatic system that recognises the vehicle and through computerized help obtains the amount of litres supplied to each vehicle. This system then communicates with a data base giving it the necessary information concerning the vehicles number, the amount of litres supplied, time of arrival and departure and by means of an automatic probe installed in the fuel tank contols the supply of fuel. This new system saves a lot of time and eliminates the amount of errors produced by manual control of data.
The tank and cleaning area
2 automatic cleaning tunnels for vehicles allow for total cleaning of busses and contain an interesting novelty which is the automatic cleaning of the bottom part of the bus by means of a special facility. This last system is used just before repairing a vehicle.
On the other hand, the tank that has a capacity of 300000 litres, has the main aim of avoiding the consumption of drinkable water in zones where it is unecessary.
Safety and security elements
At facilities with these characteristics it is essential to have an efficient safety and security system in order to prevent emergencies and protect the facilities and the staff that work there. Safety and Security System for the parking area.
Prevention and anti-fire systems
The network against fires has been set up as a ring around the perimeter of the lot, with branches that reach the diverse zones. The water is collected from the tank.
The detection system works using optic presence of temperature and smoke. When it comes to fire extinguishing systems , they can be:
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Manual: using fixed or mobile extinguishers, as well as those installed on busses (2 per bus).
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Automatic: using sprinklers.
On the other hand the network contains 18 fire hydrants and a mural hose next to the main service station as well as 6 small sheds with complementary equipment.
Anti break in systems
Due to the characteristics of the lot, the 24 hour timetable and the content of the buildings, a system that contains an alarm, that allows for the opening of doors and controls the presence of people has been installed including a closed tv circuit which has 5 monitors and 12 camaras and is used for the surveillance of the outside areas of the buildings and the main gate.
Environmental actions
The protection of the environment is a fundamental task in these types of facilities and also one of the main work guidelines for the EMT. By doing so the company's staff is protected and satisfactory integration of the facility with it's environment takes place.
Emission and residue control
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Smoke extraction: System used to extract exhaust pipe smoke, in order to avoid any harmful elements in the workers environment. This system is installed in all the bus inspection and repair areas.
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Residue treatment: This is a new system that uses the most advanced technology and which seperates grease, residual water and accumulates and collects used oil. A system for the recollection of disposable batteries, cleaning products, solvents and paints also exists. As well as selective recollection of plastic and glass.
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Noise Prevention: The entire central building is covered with an acoustic isolating material.
Trees and gardens
The gardens and trees in the area were selected and designed taking into consideration the trees common to that zone, their lushness, size and cleaning as well the architectural and infrastructural characteristics.
A total amount of 250 trees have been planted out of which not only the native plants stand out. Banana trees, palm trees, Poplars, Cypresses, Acacias and different types of hedges also standout.
Integration in the urban environment
One of the main conditions that was imposed by the team that planned the Project, along with the city council of Valencia and the EMT was that there had to be respect for the village of San Isidro and it’s church.
Therefore the design and configuration of the outside environment of the garages revolved around the ancient constructions and using them as a starting point the construction of the new access gates and the urbanization of the zone has taken place along with the following constructions:
New garden
The new garden aims at articulating the sporting area, the garages, the new access points, and the already existent buildings. Therefore offering and integrated facility with respect to the general geometry of the entire zone.
Inside this garden there is a recreational area aimed specially at children that contains swings and that is surrounded by benches aimed at allowing for the surveillance and observation of the children. A zone has also been prepared to allow for two games to be played which are “petanca” and “canut”.
The design of the garden foresees the use of native plants as well as those that have been known to grow well in the surrounding areas. These plants include banana trees, poplars, cipreses, acacias, etc. Next to these gardens a small pond and a fountain has been constructed.
Not only have the new gardens been created but the old garden in front of the church has been renovated and some of the plants have been replanted maintaining the previous design.
Sports center
In collaboration with the “Concejalía de Deportes” (Sporting council) of the City Council of Valencia, a Sporting Center has been constructed with an area of 3000 m2 of which the most outstanding characteristic is the unique perimeter wall that surrounds it which has a metalic fence that also provides lighting for the area.
This Sports Center counts on a multifunctional court in which many different sports such as basketball, volleyball, handball, soccer, etc can pe played. The court has rafters for spectators and there is a changing room and other services.
The Sports Center also has lighting in order for the center to be used at night.
Parking
The exterior parking zone counts on three separate areas:
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Parking area in front of the superintendant’s office.
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Parking area spread out along the exterior road.
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Parking area in front of the recreational zone.
Including the covered parking spots below the sporting facilities there is a total of 200 parking spaces.
Important data
| Data | |
|---|---|
| TOTAL AREA | 70.000 m2 |
| BUS PARKING AREA | 25.000 m2 |
| GARAGE SURFACE AREA | 9.500 m2 |
| GARAGE CONSTRUCTED AREA | 11.200 m2 |
| SERVICE BUILDING'S AREA | 760 m2 |
| SUPERINTENDANT'S OFFICE BUILDING'S AREA | 840 m2 |
| SPORT ZONE | 3.000 m2 |
| GARDEN ZONE | 2.000 m2 |
| CAPACITY OF BUS PARKING ZONE | 350 plazas |
| PARKING SPOTS FOR CARS | 200 plazas |
| NUMBER OF TREES | 250 |
Budget
| Budget | In millions of pesetas |
|---|---|
| URBANIZATION | 286 |
| CONSTRUCTION | 820 |
| FACILITIES | 330 |
| NEW INFERIOR PASSAGE WAY | 81 |
| SAFETY AND HYGIENE | 16 |
| TOTAL | 1.533 million pesetas |