WEBINAR 28 MAY: COVID-19 and public transport

CIT UPC,  Railgrup, the International Congress EUROSURFAS and the International Fairs EXPOQUIMIA, EQUIPLAST and INDUSTRY invite you to participate in an Dialogues with Experts webinar. In the Webinar, we will look for responses to emerging challenges, to increase to the utmost the safety of enclosed places such as train carriages, underground stations, train stations and buses, and avoid risk of contagion with COVID-19.

COVID 19 has changed the way we will use public transport. To gain the public’s trust, operators must apply new protocols that have not been defined before.

What tools do we have currently? New materials? Treatments of surfaces? Air conditioning systems? New designs? 

The webinar will be carried out in two sessions:

SESSION 1

• The first session will be held on Thursday 28 May at 10 a.m. There will be two speakers who are working on the Project against COVID-19, promoted by B. Braun, a multinational in the hospital sector, in collaboration with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Institute for Health Science Research Germans Trias i Pujol and the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute. The aim of the project is to design innovative strategies to detect, block and eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus, based on the physical and chemical properties of functionalized metal nanoparticles.

Carlos Alemán, director of the IMEM-BRT research group of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the UPC, will discuss aspects on the utility of in vitro studies and the design of sensors for monitoring the viral load in a space.

Pau Turón, director of research and development at B.Braun, will explain details of the project relating to inactivation of viruses and bacteria and will discuss solutions for decontamination of surfaces and enclosed spaces.

SESSION 2

• In the second session on Tuesday 16 June at 10 a.m., we will discuss how airflows in stations and public transport vehicles are a key element in the potential propagation of the virus, and which simulation technologies can be applied to minimise the risk of contagion. 

The speaker is Joaquim Rigola, lecturer at the UPC and promoter of the research group CTTC UPC. He is an expert in the mathematical formulation, numerical resolution and experimental validation of dynamic air-conditioned environments, with experience in HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) systems in general, and in the design of protection systems for the entry of FOD (foreign object debris/damage) in planes or the distribution of aerosol particles in deposits in human respiratory tracts, in particular.

Date and time

Session I: Thursday 28 May
Session II: Tuesday 16 June
10 to 11 a.m. CET
Videoconferences of Microsoft Teams

Target audience

Members of Railgrup. Non-members, by invitation

The videoconference will be limited to a maximum of 30 people.

The action has been jointly funded by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union, through the ERDF Operational Programme of Catalonia 2014–2020.