The Hong Kong MTR network has a total length of over 270 kilometers and serves over five million passengers each day. It is one of the world’s busiest railway systems, so to maintain the very high standard of safety and reliability for this long and busy transport network is a challenge.
The MTR’s new motto of “Keep cities moving” embraces this key message. Hopefully, the application of new technology will help it achieve this sacred goal. Fortunately, with the application of innovative technology, it is becoming much easier to achieve.
Using big data, AI technology, automation and robotics, the MTR is developing innovative smart railway technologies that will be gradually rolled out in various areas of passenger service to achieve this aim.
As implementation of smart technology also generates vast amounts of data, it has established the Operations Data Studio at its Fo Tan Railway House office as its data operations center to collect, integrate and to analyze railway systems, transforming them into actual operational actions for higher level of reliability and safety to end-users through alerts, reports and visualizations.
One key area of these is the application of an intelligent safety system for passengers. The MTR Light Rail System has close interfaces with road vehicles as there are no physical barriers to segregate the paths between light rail vehicles and other road vehicles. Operating in manual driving mode under an open system environment, it can benefit from the application of innovative technology to provide much more reliable service, minimizing interruption.
The Integrated Speed and Position Supervision System – or iSPS – was invented by a team of innovation and technology experts of the MTR Corp. The system, utilizing GPS and RFID technology, enables accurate positioning of light rail vehicles to provide real-time speed supervision to help to observe speed limits and inter-vehicle close-up scenarios to minimize risks of conflicts.
The iSPS generates reminders and alerts for train captains, automatically inhibiting traction power supply, even engaging service braking action as the situation demands. Throughout the operation of the Light Rail System, all relevant data are transmitted to the Light Rail Operations Control Centre using a mobile communications network, enabling accurate and comprehensive real-time monitoring to enhance overall safety.
The I&T team has also developed the “Tree Intrusion Monitoring System” utilizing LiDAR – or light detection and ranging – technology for data collection on trees that may intrude into the light rail operating envelope. This system employs AI analysis for preventive tree management. Currently, the system has already been integrated into two light rail vehicles, providing much more accurate data on tree branches in proximity to the vehicle path.
LiDAR units mounted on these vehicles automatically gather data, including tree height, shape, and distance from the light rail operating area. Application of AI technology helps to assess the risks of tree encroachment and generates alert signals to inform the tree management team to facilitate early inspections.
These two light rail vehicles are now in service to perform comprehensive inspections of the entire network, augmenting the regular assessments by the tree management team with much increased inspection frequency.
The system delivers objective and precise data analysis, aiding the team in early identification of vegetation growth that could pose risks to light rail operations.
This technology enables a more focused approach to prioritizing tree pruning activities, significantly enhancing overall risk management, and reducing incidents that could interrupt passenger service.
It is gratifying to see these innovative inventions, together with many other schemes in development, winning many awards in the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva over the past few years. Once again, such recognitions by international parties demonstrate that Hong Kong is among the top tier in the world in engineering innovation.
Bravo to our bright and hardworking engineers!
Veteran engineer Edmund Leung
Kwong-ho casts an expert eye over features of modern life
