DIGITALISATION
SAFETY AND CYBERSECURITY FOR RAIL NETWORKS IN ASIA PACIFIC by Mr Friedhelm Best, Vice President Asia Pacific, HIMA With nations now much more prepared in dealing with the pandemic, Asia Pacific is slowly getting its economy back to speed, which means having to move large numbers of people, once again, safely and expeditiously.
Mr Friedhelm Best
Moving masses through the veins of the cities In many of the Asia Pacific nations, public transportation is the crux of their economies, since the populace depends on an affordable and dependable infrastructure for work and leisure, especially in highly congested metropolitan cities around the region. Domestic air travel, whilst perhaps contributing to a faster journey, from point to point, may not be as affordable as rail or bus networks, especially when rail systems become fast and are meticulously engineered into urban planning. Domestic high-speed rail for larger nations in this region has become more important, especially as they have begun to link up provinces. The region boasts some of the most advanced mass transit rail networks in the world, including in Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and China. A McKinsey report accorded Singapore the top spot for public transport affordability, efficiency and safety. Hong Kong SAR has an extensive mesh network of heavy and light rail, with its more tenured and dependable MTR (mass transit rail) system put through a five-stage assurance process for safety-related and safety-critical systems. A large continent like Australia has begun to see pockets of successful rail networks, such as the Newcastle Light Rail with six stops connecting the waterfront and the key parts of the city, as part of the Newcastle Urban Transformation and Transport Program (NUTTP). The Great Southern Rail is a 400 km railway corridor that now serves mostly freight, but promises to revitalise passenger mobility from Adelaide to Melbourne. This will increasingly become a great enabler for tourism and hospitality, and business travel as well.
Looking at smart safety and cybersecurity for rail Rail safety as well as cybersecurity are mission-critical. For example, there must be safety controls to enable early braking and stopping of a speeding train, if it is coming towards a person who has fallen onto the rail track. Likewise, there must be early warning controllers linked to a control panel, that will enable operators to intervene early, should there be electrical failures affecting parts of the train or rail controls. And in the modern era of incessant hacking, any system, including rail and transportation systems, that has computers and networks involved, is subject to potential intrusions. 26
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER February 2021
Rail reliability and safety are critical requirements. Image: Timothy Brandt.
Standards are everything in safety and cybersecurity. For rail systems, we need to comply with IEC 61508, the basic functional safety standard, and IEC 61511 for processcontrol and safety systems, IEC 62443 for IT security, as well as rail-specific safety standards such as IEC 62278 for RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety), IEC 62279 for rail software, and IEC 62425 for rail system safety. When looking at the safety aspects for rail systems, companies can consider either proprietary safety solutions or commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions. Proprietary safety solutions may accord certain unique functionalities and controls that some companies may prefer, but a great majority of rail networks, built for longevity, cost-effectiveness, and ease of maintenance, may prefer, instead, to look at COTS solutions for functional safety, such as the HIMA SIL4 technology.
