IIoT and the Transformation of Railways

Category:
Industry Trends
The emergence of the industrial internet of things (IIoT) in last few years has set the stage for a digital disruption of railways. The transportation industry has already seen a major impact, with the introduction of autonomous vehicles and improved cargo management, but one area that has seen less coverage is the connected railway. Let’s take a look at how new IIoT technologies and services will revolutionize the railway industry and will allow for confronting today’s challenges.

The transportation systems in many areas face under-investment and old infrastructure. (Boston built its first subway in 1897; transit systems in New York and Chicago were first built at the turn of the 20th century. Newer systems such as the Washington, D.C. Metro started operating in 1976. The first high-speed rail systems in Europe, meanwhile, debuted in 1981.)Image removed.

As economies grow, the demand for public transit rises. Considering the trend, the demand for long-distance rail journeys will grow, and it is already noticeable in intercity travels within Europe. This trend will call for high-speed, sophisticated, resilient, and safe rail systems. To cope with the growing economy and old infrastructure, public transportation systems must meet enhanced safety requirements to prevent accidents. The rail industry must address challenges such as pricing, comfort, customer service, and reliability, to compete with the airline industry, as well as with innovative companies such as Uber.

To meet these requirements, the rail industry is beginning to replace the legacy infrastructure with IIoT and Big Data enabled train management systems (TMS). Sensors are built into the trains to provide real time monitoring, analysis, control and maintenance. Trains will be interconnected through communication hubs, and data and instructions will flow among trains and the network control rooms. IIoT technologies will appear in real-time machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, signaling, train radios, lineside communication, level-crossings, station information and security at the end points. The downstream data will be stored and analyzed in IIoT Platforms, primarily in cloud or servers. This information will not only enable operators to utilize equipment, tracks and stations more efficiently, but also reduce safety risks and operational expenses.

There will be challenges. Deploying widespread infrastructure, platforms, and applications to support IIoT for railways is a compound activity. Railway operators must steer through a complex technology landscape with diverse wireless connectivity technologies for different performance parameters. Suppliers must work out the most economical way to connect all the deployed sensors and securely collect the data that is generated. In addition, trains operate at very high speeds, travel through tunnels and experience extreme weather conditions. This results in real challenges when it comes to deploying IIoT systems. The safety-critical nature of IIoT in this application makes it important for a supplier to work closely with the customer to test and certify its products. The supplier cannot just put products trackside. There must be a protocol to go through a rigorous testing and approval process.

In rural areas, wired fiber-optic communication has to be deployed as there’s negligible wireless connectivity and wireless connectivity presents its own issues.  Vulnerability to outside interference is common. Data loss, data breach, and manipulation, denial of service attack are possible. Prevention of hacking and cyber-attacks must be considered, and security patches and firmware updates in an IIoT system should be kept current.

But recent technological advances in networking have made smart trains a possibility, and it provides significant benefits when transporting goods, providing comfort and safety for passengers, and increasing the operator’s return on investments (ROI). Successful implementation of IIoT can result in improved operational efficiency, enhanced automation, adaptability and safety, and better passenger experiences.

On-board train location and detection systems help trains to be aware of the positions of other trains. This reduces the risk of collisions and allows trains to operate safely in close proximity of one another. Systems are in place that displays train speeds for drivers and report it back to central control systems. Through IIoT, the on-board monitoring systems are interconnected with outdoor signaling systems, which regulate train speeds or command trains to stop based on track conditions, the positions of switches, the presence of other trains on the track. The IIoT can further improve the system’s level of automation and its integration with the signaling systems, where wireless connectivity to ground signaling is getting more and more common both in railroad and metro systems. By installing camera and sensors, IIoT can assist in decreasing the deaths at the level crossings.

Digitization will be a boon to railways.  IIoT will help to improve operational efficiency. It can address the issues of diagnostics and predictive maintenance through the monitoring and analysis of data collected by train and track sensors. Potential service interruptions can be detected by continuously monitoring tracks, overhead power lines and level-crossings, which will enable in efficient maintenance, superior reliability, and reduced MTTR. And as cities grow and congestion increases, remote passenger counting systems will help optimize fleet management in response to demand.

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