Intelligent Solutions for a Safer, Smarter Rail System

Digital transformation has reached a critical juncture within the railway industry. As rail operators embrace new trends in intelligence, sustainability and service, aging telecommunications architecture of more than 20 years ago is unable to meet current and future requirements.

The existing GSM-R train-to-ground communication system can no longer provide sufficient capacity for modern railway stations. Instead, operators are turning to the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) with broad bandwidth and a new decoupling architecture based on LTE and the latest technology to improve performance.

“Digital transformation is a long journey and rail operators need to ‘dream big’. Currently, the most pressing challenge for rail operators is to identify both the pain points and benefits and address them with cost-effective digital solutions—to ‘act small,’” said Xiang Xi, Vice President, Aviation & Rail BU, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

As an industry-leading ICT solution provider, Huawei can help with these transformation efforts in three aspects: by reshaping connectivity, reconstructing the platform, and enabling intelligence. At the upcoming InnoTrans exhibition, Huawei will outline the framework for digitalisation of the railway business and best practices for innovation and showcase smart railway related Solution.

Reshape connectivity

With digitalisation, demand for new services such as train automation, smart maintenance, and others is growing. Current narrowband network has insufficient bandwidth to meet complex network requirements to support these services. Innovative solutions such as FRMCS, Wi-Fi 6 and all-optical networks will enable a more digitalised rail infrastructure.

Huawei FRMCS solution enables wireless communications systems for high throughput, low latency, and reliable connectivity. This solution can support new railway services such as multimedia dispatching communications, trackside IoT, and predictive maintenance.

Reliability in connectivity also requires zero interruptions for real-time service. Wi-Fi 6 Train-to-Ground communication, Railway All-Optical Network using native hard pipeline (NHP) and Urban Rail Cloud-Optical Network based on OTN technology with ultra-low latency, enables no-disruption connectivity to operators’ assets, services, operations and maintenance.

Reconstruct platform

Traditional urban rail lines and service systems, including ATS, AFC, and PIS, are relatively independent. The silo construction of IT resources leads to high construction costs, low resource utilization, and isolation of multiple information systems. The unified construction mode of the urban rail cloud changes these issues.

Huawei’s Urban Rail Cloud Platform solution empowers rail operators to maximise IT resources and improve security and efficiency of operations.

Enable intelligence

As rail operations increase in complexity, rail operators need to gain a better situational awareness in order to manage their assets better and expedite incident response time. The challenges becomes even greater as operators look for ways to improve low-carbon development and other parts of their operations to address sustainability objectives.

Huawei’s Urban Rail Intelligent Operation Center (IOC) solution connects digital environments with physical spaces for improved and integrated situational awareness leading to better decision-making and an efficient and collaborative command.

Next-generation communications technologies will play a critical role in addressing the unique challenges of the rail industry. Cutting-edge solutions such as FRMCS, Wi-Fi 6, and all-optical networks are addressing those challenges to empower the rail industry to modernize for improved safety and reliability of rail lines, while opening new opportunities for innovation.

Register now to find out Huawei’s global experience in the rail industry at the 9th Huawei Global Rail Summit on 22nd September at the Grand Hyatt Berlin in Germany.