Safely from terminal to terminal at the largest airport in Moscow

People arrive from all over the world and either use the airport as a hub for transferring to connecting flights or are returning home: The Scheremetjewo airport in Moscow is the largest in the metropolis of millions and all of Russia. It is made up of two separate terminal areas to the north and south of the take-off and landing runways. Since May 2018, these two building complexes have been connected with a fully automatic people mover from the Austrian manufacturer Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH. To ensure that passengers reach their destination safely, WAGNER Rail GmbH has provided technology for effective fire protection in the passenger areas and technical containers of the cable liners.

The Doppelmayr Group, known all over the world from the field of ropeway engineering, is also active in the automated people mover sector with the subsidiary Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH. Cable cars are used in many different areas: Airports, city centres, amusement parks, metro/underground systems and more. But this is the first time the Doppelmayr cable liner has been used in Russia. At the airport in Moscow, two fully automatic cable liners consisting of four carriages each cover a route of around two kilometres and move back and forth between the two terminal complexes of Scheremetjewo airport at a maximum speed of around 50 Km/h. A special feature of the project: In contrast to established people movers, which run above ground like the one at the airport in Frankfurt, the cable car track has been constructed underground in a tunnel under the airport. The building work took place while the airport was still in operation.

Austrian cable liner manufacturer relies on an integrated fire protection solution

To make the journey as safe as possible for the passengers, Doppelmayr, along with its suppliers Carvatech Karosserie and Kabinenbau GmbH, turned directly to the fire protection experts of WAGNER Rail GmbH. The task was to find a suitable fire protection solution, which would offer comprehensive protection from fires and the consequential damage caused by fires in both passenger and technical areas. Cable liners pulled by steel ropes transport up to 3,360 people per hour and are in operation around the clock: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In order to ensure that operation is as smooth and free from interruptions as possible and to minimize the damage caused in case of fire, an integrated solution has been offered that combines different kinds of technologies: Multi-sensor fire detectors, linear heat detectors and an aerosol extinguishing system, which are all connected to a fire alarm panel.

Perfect interplay: Fire detection and extinguishing for people and technology

In the four passenger areas per cable liner, WAGNER Rail GmbH installed multi-sensor fire detectors. Multi-sensor fire detectors work on the principle of light scattering. At the heart of the technology is a high-quality opto-electronic measuring chamber, which optimally detects light and dark smoke particles. This allows a fire to be detected reliably and passengers to be evacuated as quickly as possible. This is particularly important, as the cable liner runs in a tunnel system.

The technical areas were equipped with a separate fire protection solution: Each carriage contains three technical containers. These containers contain the manifolds and control units. The technical containers are all equipped with multi-sensor fire detectors and linear heat detectors. The linear heat detector is responsible for temperature monitoring. In the event of fire, it reacts by causing a short circuit in the sensor line if the alarm temperature is exceeded. The detected parameter results in an alarm signal.

To ensure that fires can be extinguished effectively in the early stages of an emergency, an aerosol extinguishing system was also added to the fire protection solution. This is used in all technical areas in all carriages.

This was the first cable liner project for the rail fire protection experts from Bavaria. WAGNER Rail GmbH has already completed several successful projects in Russia: Anyone who wants to travel from Scheremetjewo airport to the centre of Moscow, for example, has to take the Moscow Aeroexpress. And this is also equipped with effective fire protection – with innovative technology from the fire protection expert.