The growth of cities around the world has been characterised by unsustainable, car-dependent and transit-poor urban sprawl. To remedy this, transit-oriented development is a fast growing trend and approach that fosters a compact, walkable, mixed-use community centred around a transit station or within transit corridors. One such organisation that champions for transit-oriented development is Institute for Transportation & Development Policy …
The growing threat of cyber attacks on rail systems
Extensive use of IT and automated computer systems in the rail industry, coupled with increasing adoption of emerging technologies like machine to machine sensors, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, has led to greater levels of operational efficiency and optimisation. Like a double-edged sword, it also introduced new vulnerabilities to the systems, increasing the risk of malicious cyber attacks that could damage rail …
Deploying AI to manage complex maintenance schedules
In a typical week, 10,000 engineers are deployed to carry out maintenance works on Hong Kong’s subway systems. The boss who singly schedules tasks for thousands of workers is an AI program, designed by Andy Chun of Hong Kong’s City University and partnered with MTR Corporation to integrate it into their systems. The tasks used to be scheduled by humans. In fact, …
Building Mumbai’s longest rail corridor
The Mumbai government has grand plans to expand the metro network in India’s most populous city, with a total of eight rail corridors to be built. Line 1 has been operational since 2014 while construction on Line 3 is set to commence in 2017 and scheduled for completion in 2022. Mumbai Metro Line 3, a 33.5km corridor linking Colaba in …
Establishing a competitive air-rail link: Express Rail Link
Airport rail links play an important role in providing a seamless connection between the airport and the city centre. Unlike a metro service which serves the general public, a dedicated airport rail service is a niche market. There are only 24 such airport links in the world serving airport passengers. Express Rail Link in Kuala Lumpur is one such service …