In line with the evolution in trains in recent years, the infrastructures that surround them are also adapting to the new era. To help modernize all the elements that make up the railway sector, Ceit and MASATS are working on a project whose aim is to design the next generation platform access door. These doors, in addition to serving as a protective barrier for travelers, will be connected to a sensor system and display information related to, for example, the number of people in a car and how many people will be at each door.

The new door design features new mechanical advances that will allow greater reliability, higher performance and lower maintenance costs. Ceit researchers are working on this challenge by integrating a design for a linear electric motor into the project.

More concretely, Ceit is working on a way to make this motor serve as the door's actuator, which will also require the design of the support structure that the motor will be fixed to. This type of motor will be much more efficient and reliable than the ones currently in use, and it has already been put into use in elevator doors and in the machine tool sector. 

The project, which started in January this year, expects to test the first prototype by the end of the year.