Transforming China's Railways: exploring the achievements of Frauscher China in this highly dynamic market

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Since its inception in the Chinese market in 2007, Frauscher Sensor Technology has consistently introduced innovations and advancements to the Chinese railway sector, leveraging its robust R&D capabilities and profound understanding of market dynamics. As of 2023, Frauscher has been involved in more than 100 rail transportation projects in China and has provided diverse solutions and technical support to a wide array of projects across the entire country. Axle counting solutions offered by Frauscher have been widely recognised by the industry for their high levels of safety, reliability, and overall flexibility which made them suitable for a wide range of applications, such as track vacancy detection, level crossing protection and as CBTC fallback systems.

The impact that Frauscher China has made on railway projects across the country is considerable, with its solutions playing a significant role in rail operations across numerous major cities. From the bustling urban centers of Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin, Xi'an, to the dynamic economic hubs like Chengdu, Frauscher's solutions constitute an integral part of the railway infrastructure of these cities and beyond. As a result, Frauscher was able to make a sizeable contribution to the enhancement of efficiency and safety of China's expansive railway networks, recently marking its 100^th successfully completed metro project.

Introducing Frauscher solutions to the Chinese rail market

The Frauscher Advanced Counter FAdC® is increasingly being chosen for new projects in China due to its many benefits. This includes, among many others, support for relay or Ethernet based software interfaces, as well as support a wide array of customer-specific protocols, making the installation process simple and convenient. Furthermore, the modular architecture of the FAdC® ensures easy and flexible expansion to suit all types of projects and applications. On top of this, the FAdC® is also able to provide detailed system diagnostic information, which is essential for handling system failures and performing various maintenance procedures. The FAdC® is able to utilise the Frauscher Diagnostic System FDS, which monitors the operating status of the axle counting system in real time, enabling swift analysis of faults, while also offering the possibility to integrate this data with the Frauscher Insights data platform, in order to provide early warnings for certain types of failure. Frauscher Insights is an intelligent data platform that carries the possibility to bundle data received from train detection and make it available via various applications, enabling railway operators to derive additional benefits from their datasets.

Use of Frauscher solutions in various railway applications

Frauscher China has been committed to providing customers with safe, efficient, and reliable solutions for many years in this rapidly expanding market. For instance, with regards to metro projects, Frauscher solutions have been used successfully on numerous occasions as part of CBTC fallback systems, such as Beijing Metro Yizhuang Line, Line 8 and Changping Line. In instances when the CBTC system fails, the backup system provided by Frauscher can immediately take over train detection to maintain high levels of safety and reliability at all times. The system can also provide additional valuable information to operators such as direction of travel which again helps to further improve the overall efficiency, safety and reliability of railway operations.

In the field of high-speed railway, Frauscher axle counting systems have been used successfully for track idle occupancy detection in the neutral zone of Beijing-Shenyang high-speed railway and Changsha-Xiangtan intercity railway projects. The successful implementation of such projects has positioned Frauscher China as a leading provider of train detection solutions for all types of projects, such as maglev, streetcars and monorails. For instance, in the field of magnetic levitation, the Frauscher Advanced Counter FAdC® has been successfully applied in a project, Hunan Fenghuang Maglev Sightseeing Line, which had very specific technological requirements due to the absence of standard train wheels. At the same time, Frauscher China has also made significant progress in various monorail projects, which includes the renowned Chengdu Tram Line Rong 2 project.

Frauscher China's remarkable success: Highlights from several completed projects

1. Chengdu Tram Line Rong 2: this is the first rail line in China which was equipped with the Frauscher Advanced Counter FAdC®. Consequently, the operator also benefitted from a number of innovative features of the FAdC® such as Counting Head Control CHC which effectively suppresses false fault messages caused by external factors such as metal debris in close vicinity to the wheel sensors. This innovative feature enables axles to be counted only when a railway vehicle passes the counting head, effectively disregarding unexpected interferences which are common in urban environments. Likewise, thanks to this feature, on-site personnel do not need to reset the axle count after performing maintenance procedures on the tracks, which is often the case in instances where CHC is not used.

Furthermore, the Supervisor Track Section STS is an automated fault correction process which was also implemented in this project. The working principle of the STS consists of overlaying track sections by a supervisor section. If there is an error on a track section but the corresponding supervisor section is clear, the system will automatically perform a reset without the need for human intervention, thus contributing to higher availability of rail operations.

2. Fenghuang Maglev: this is China's first tourist and sightseeing Maglev line. Since Maglev trains do not have wheels, traditional wheel detection methods cannot be directly applied in Maglev transportation projects. Therefore, to solve this issue, Frauscher China installed a special detection plate at the bottom of the maglev train instead of standard train wheels, which ensures accurate and reliable detection of the vehicle's position at all times. In addition, the Frauscher Wheel Sensor RSR180 which was used in this project is not only able to effectively resist the interference of magnetic brakes, but can be easily and conveniently mounted on any type of track, which greatly simplifies the on-site installation work, shortens the installation time, and reduces the subsequent maintenance costs.

3. Beijing Metro Line 12: this is a metro project which is currently under construction in Beijing, with a length of almost 30km and a total of 21 stations, due to open in mid-2024. The project utilises the Frauscher Advanced Counter FAdC®, which has a fully electronic interface that allows seamless communication with the higher-level interlocking system via a series of communication protocols, including the railway safety protocol RSSP-I. This protocol is specially designed to ensure safe and reliable communication and information sharing between individual system components, guaranteeing high levels of safety and efficiency. Most notably, this is also the first metro line in China that combines the FAdC® and RSSP protocols as a backup system for the CBTC. In this project, engineers from Frauscher have made significant customisations and optimisations to the software interface of the FAdC®, providing the customer with a customised COM communication board COM-PSSP101, which enables Frauscher solutions to be easily integrated into the Chinese railway signal control system, greatly enhancing system interoperability while reducing installation and maintenance costs.

Looking into the future

As of the end of 2023, Frauscher has successfully been involved in the construction of over a hundred urban rail transit lines within China, and it is projected that a series of key lines, including Beijing Subway Line 12 and Qingdao Metro Line 6, will be opened for operation in 2024. The successful launch of these lines not only marks another important milestone for Frauscher in the urban rail transit sector in China, but also plays a significant role in easing the increasing urban traffic pressure and improving the experience for passengers. Within these newly launched projects, the Frauscher Advanced Counter FAdC® plays a pivotal role, providing a safe, reliable and available solution to meet the needs of every project.

Amidst the dynamic growth of China's rail transit sector, Frauscher is committed not only to advancing rail technology but also to enhancing the efficiency of the China's rail transit networks. Looking ahead, Frauscher remains dedicated to fostering collaborative partnerships with domestic stakeholders while ensuring utmost customer satisfaction. By providing customised support and assistance throughout the entire product lifecycle, customers can have the confidence that they receive personalised assistance that aligns precisely with their unique requirements.

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