By Li Mingqun, managing director of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa Transportation Business
Vulnerable to illegal occupation, theft and vandalism along several important corridors due to rapid urbanisation and complex population dynamics, South Africa’s critical railway infrastructure, currently covering more than 38 000 km, is among the most targeted railway networks in the world. Poor maintenance of this ageing infrastructure and slow locomotive replacement have caught up with the network in recent years.
PRASA, which provides commuter rail services for all regions of the country, is working hard to improve this situation. Every year, PRASA invests a large amount of money in rebuilding and restoring the infrastructure and ensuring the safety of core assets and operations of the railway system.
Recently, significant progress has been made in the reconstruction of passenger railway infrastructure with modernisation and renovation of damaged stations. Restoration of railway infrastructure in Gauteng has boosted rapid economic development of South Africa's regions and informed PRASA’s future expansion plans.
Security is essential to protect these gains and prevent further theft and vandalism. Perimeter security is particularly crucial as the first safety barrier between the railway and the outside world is the fence. Unfortunately, environmental interference by vegetation, animals and pedestrians, among others, around the railway fence is a challenge.
Traditional defences against these factors, including vibration cables and microwave radiation, are restricted and present the risk of false positives and negatives. As a result, the railway authority doesn’t have effective oversight of the security system and stability. Additionally, systems are frequently isolated from each other, resulting in complex alarm confirmation and high construction and maintenance costs.
Fortunately, integration of multiple sensing technologies are better able to meet the requirements of perimeter protection and improve safety levels. The joint initiative by PRASA and Huawei illustrates the effectiveness of integration.
Based on PRASA's engineering experience and understanding in the railway industry, and Huawei's industry-leading technologies, such as intelligent fibre sensing and video AI, PRASA and Huawei have jointly deployed an intelligent railway perimeter protection solution for end-to-end railway perimeter protection and security detection throughout the network.
The intelligent system includes a vibration-visual linkage system and an upper-layer integrated management platform, which integrate map display, detection reporting and confirmation of early warning events. This closed loop railway enclosure safety system provides new direction for railway enclosure safety.
Supported by the large AI model, this solution can quickly adapt to various scenarios. For example, PRASA, plans to apply this to the protection of buried cables along the railway lines. Vibration sensing and video double verification enhance the solution’s reliability.
The large AI model additionally supports the solution in quickly adapting to diverse scenarios and integrating vibration sensing and intelligent vision technologies. As a result, it not only builds an intelligent sensing network system but also provides a new tool in actual scenario applications.
Commercial use of this solution by PRASA guides global railway operators in solving security pain points. At the Southern African Railways Association (SARA) 2024 conference, SARA, PRASA and Huawei jointly released this AI-based vibration-visual linkage railway perimeter protection reference site, which will become the starting point of railway digitalisation in Africa.
By continuously optimising digital applications, Huawei accelerates service innovation and improves railway operations worldwide – improving the quality and efficiency of transportation and passenger and cargo services.
With solutions like this, it’s possible to make railway operation safer and more efficient, passenger travel more convenient and smoother and help South Africa's railways enter the digital "fast track".
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