MTR rolls out new speed and position-monitoring system to improve safety on Hong Kong’s light rail network
- The system, which has been developed in-house, relays speed and position data to controllers and drivers in real time
- The company expects to conduct a review in early 2019 and will fully install the system by the middle of the year
A new system enabling real-time speed and position monitoring on the city’s light rail vehicles will be rolled out by the middle of next year in a bid to improve safety of the manually operated vehicles, the MTR Corporation said on Thursday.
Announcing the system, called “Integrated Speed and Position Supervision System” (iSPS), which has been developed in-house, Cheung Chi-keung, the MTR Corp’s head of operations for the west region, said three light rail routes in Tin Shui Wai – the 705, 706 and 751P – had already trialled the system.
The new system, developed by the rail giant’s engineers over two years, combines the technology of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). It operates with on-board GPS receivers and RFID readers, as well as RFID tags installed in track areas.
During operations, the speed data and the position of the light rail vehicles are relayed back to the Light Rail Operations Control Centre for real-time monitoring.
Cheung said that, as light railcars are operated manually the system will assist the work of light rail drivers.
“Train captains will receive an audio reminder from the system when the speed of the light rail vehicle is about to reach the limit of the section being traversed,” he said.
Other features include reminders for train captains to perform platform duty, and alerts when passing through designated junctions and turnouts.