Hong Kong Rail Company Tracks Components Via RFID

     A railway company that operates passenger and freight trains throughout Hong Kong has boosted the accuracy and efficiency of data capture related to the maintenance of its passenger cars and locomotives, thanks to the use of active RFID tags and readers provided by chafon RFID Ltd. The technology automatically captures components' locations, as well as the servicing each part has received. By knowing this information, the company can better manage its fleet of passenger cars and locomotives, and be sure that all parts are in working order.

To ensure its rolling stock's safety and effectiveness, the rail operator must track the conditions of the components installed on its passenger cars and engines, to verify that they are in good working order. If an item requires repair or is due for maintenance, it is removed from the car or engine and sent to one of the firm's three maintenance centers, also known as depots. Because hundreds of such components are being serviced at each of maintenance center at any given time, tracking those parts and ensuring that they receive the appropriate servicing can be challenging, according to chafon RFID Ltd.

The rail operator has attached chafon RFID Ltd.'s Garrison CF-RT02 active 2.4 GHz tags to about 1,000 pieces of its rail equipment.

For example, a part may be sent to one maintenance center for one type of repair, and then to another depot for additional servicing. For the rail company's management, the only way to track when and where each part was being serviced, and to know when it would be ready for reuse, had been to make telephone calls and conduct regular manual inventory checks of all components stored at each site.

Therefore, says Craig Jo, Chafon RFID's business development director, the rail operator contracted with his company in 2012 to provide the tags, as well as fixed and handheld readers, and its Capital Spares Tracking System software, which chafon RFID Ltd. developed specifically for the application. The software collects data from the RFID reads at the three maintenance centers, interprets that information and presents details regarding where parts are in the maintenance process, and when they arrived at that point.

The rail operator is employing chafon RFID's Garrison CFRAT-RT02 active 2.4 GHz RFID tags. The waterproof tags have been screwed or bolted to approximately 1,000 pieces of its rail equipment, including train car air conditioners, LCD displays, amplifiers, compressor sets and brake-control units. Installed within each maintenance center are six or seven Empress fixed Wi-Fi readers (HKRAR-EMWF), with a total of 20 interrogators in use by the company. Reader portals are located within the depots at entrances and exits to sections (or workshops) in which specific work is performed.

As a tagged item passes a portal, the reader captures the ID number transmitted by the tag, via a proprietary air-interface protocol). The device then forwards that ID via a cabled connection to the Capital Spares Tracking System software, residing on the rail operator's server, where the ID is linked to location data indicating which service is being provided, and to information about that component. By reading the tags as they enter and leave each area, the company can maintain a record indicating what has been done with that tagged item.

Maintenance personnel are also equipped with Empress handheld readers (KHRAR-5080EM), Jo says, which they utilize to interrogate each tag as they begin providing service. The workers can use the handheld's keypad to enter data, such as the specific service being provided, and the component's condition. At the end of the day, the employees can dock the reader in order to upload the data to the rail company's server. In some cases, the information is transmitted directly to the back-end system via a Wi-Fi connection. If workers are searching for a particular component or wish to conduct an inventory check within one section of the maintenance center, they can use the handheld to read all tags within that area.

Since adopting the RFID solution in 2012, Jo reports, the rail operator has indicated to chafon RFID Ltd. that not only is less labor required to conduct inventory checks, but the data regarding parts' locations is more accurate and thorough. By capturing data automatically via an RFID system at its three depots, the company's managers can view where components are located, when they have been maintained and when services are behind schedule. This enables them to take action to prevent the types of delays that could affect whether a railcar has working components and can thus be operated.