Efacec completed the Odense Light Rail System, in Denmark, which was one of the largest Portuguese engineering projects for urban mobility, as well as the most
complex and comprehensive, in terms of the application of skills, a truly live showroom of Efacec’s technology. The contract began in June 2017 and amounted
to 50M€, reflecting the size and integration of solutions provided by the company.

The consortium in which Efacec is part, with the construction companies COMSA (Spanish) and MUNCK (Danish), was chosen for this project due to its technical
superiority and experience, having stood out in the public consultation process, which involved the biggest international players in the sector. Efacec was responsible for developing and installing the electromechanical component of the project, and its technology was integrated into all the energy, telecommunications, signaling and control center systems.

In addition to the typical demands of a project with the characteristics of the Odense Light Rail System, which is highly complex and technologically sophisticated,
Efacec had to respond to the most diverse challenges during the implementation phase of the project. From the execution in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic
crisis, to the resolution of constraints on the movement of people and traffic (vehicles and bicycles), during the work, in a city with no experience of living with a metro system.

The Odense Light Rail was inaugurated this Saturday, 28 May, five years after the project was awarded to the Efacec consortium. It integrates 14 kilometers of line, 26 surface stations, a command center, 16 vehicles and 56 road crossings. It is estimated that 35,000 passengers will be transported daily. It is a remarkable and emblematic project that will shape the future of Odense, with integrated solutions in the fields of energy and mobility, with digital connectivity present, Efacec’s core areas.

For Ângelo Ramalho, Chairman and CEO of Efacec, “the inauguration of the Odense Light Rail is further evidence of Efacec’s technological competitiveness and of our teams’ ability to perform in the most diverse environments. The Odense Light Rail is an emblematic project in mobility and is a living showroom of the various technological skills needed to carry out a project of this nature. All developed and delivered by Efacec.”

“The importance of the project, the great diversity and integration of technological solutions provided and the efficient execution of the project, allowed Efacec to strengthen its competitiveness and consolidate its place as a reference in the world metro-rail sector.”, adds the same responsible.

In Efacec’s portfolio, the Odense Light Rail project is the one that includes the greatest number of systems and products made by Efacec: traction substations, catenary, railway signaling, communications, public information, video surveillance, telephony, vehicle location system and the control center. Pedro Pinto, director of Efacec’s Transportation Unit, emphasizes that “Efacec is, nationally, the only company with the skills in all the technological areas required for the project. The previous successes of the Dublin and Bergen Metro projects, as well as other emblematic projects in the area of intelligent and sustainable mobility,
developed by Efacec in the national and international market, were essential to its achievement.”To Soren Thrane, Technical Director of Odense Letbane “Most of the population is excited and anxious for the metro to start running. I would like to highlight the sustainability of the project, which uses energy from the electricity grid, originating from wind and hydroelectric sources.

The project was extremely challenging, and we will learn many lessons from it for the future. The reliability of Efacec system technology was crucial to this success. I praise the high quality and professionalism of the entire team.” Efacec’s experience in the supply of electromechanical systems for Metros and Light Rail goes back more than 25 years, having started with the supply of substations for the Lisbon Metro. From that date until the present, the projects have been
successive. In 1997, Efacec had a very significant participation in the construction of the Oporto Metro network, which was followed by multiple similar projects in various countries: Messina (Italy), Tenerife and Cadiz (Spain), Algiers, Oran and Constantine (Algeria), Nottingham (United Kingdom), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Dublin (Ireland) and Bergen (Norway).

Efacec is currently participating in the construction of Phase 4 of the Bergen Metro (Norway), the Sydavnen Line of the Copenhagen Metro (Denmark) and the
extension of the Yellow Line and the new Circular Line of the Oporto Metro (Portugal).