Toward Zero Accident Developing Smart Railway Transportation in Taiwan (Source: Agenda 21st century Taiwan)

During the forums of Mobility Asia, Taiwan presented the achievement of MRT Taipei, whose mean kilometers between failures (MKBF) has reached the historical record of 9.02 million Train-Km. With the reliability of 99.998%, MRT Taipei is one of the most reliable rapid transits all over the world. It is accomplished by advanced electronic smart technology and rigorous engineering management. Thanks to the solid foundation of Taiwan’s electronic industry, it provides ideal conditions for the development of smart railways.

After years of integration, the prevalent and high quality railways in Europe have set the universal standards for the world. Followed the merger of Alcatel Space and Rail Signaling by Thales, and the acquisition of Matra Transportation International by Siemen, in Feb, 2019, Alstom announced it was retaining Bombardier Transportation.

The partnership and competition between European businesses have helped establish uniformed protocols. European Train Control System (ETCS) is applied in Mexico, China, India, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, in addition to 17 European countries. The public transits and railway networks are still growing in most of these areas. It is also noticeable that, in recent years, the developmental discrepancies between urban and suburban areas in Middle East and Central Asia also have been greatly shortened because of the construction of light rails.

Taiwan’s electronic industry thrived in the last century, accumulating precious knowledge and experience for the coming technology and application. Yogi Fang, engineer of the Anyware Inc., extends his profession from communication products to smart railway signaling. According to his analysis, the manpower and the complete supply chains Taiwan had rapidly established through OEM have provided the world high quality and affordable communication equipment and products, and successfully shortened the distances of the world.

In the 21st century, businesses from the US, Europe and China all have shown their ambition in the applications of smart technology in transportation as well as everyday life, making uniformed protocols crucial. To a less known local business with relatively small market, it is necessary to connect to internationally accredited brand, so its previous achievement wouldn’t be gone into oblivion. The $15 Billion project of Taiwan’s railway signaling shall not close itself from this opportunity.

Information regarding safety, flows, movements on routes and all kinds of arithmetic can be retrieved from IoT. Compared to self-driving cars, smart public transportation is worth the public investment for smart technology for it can improve the living quality of people from inside and outside of the cities, providing more environment-friendly and safer choices for commuting.