EMC Management and Control Plan for Mass Rapid

Transit Railway Project in Malaysia

Syarfa Zahirah Sapuan1a, Ahmed M. Sayegh 2a, Mohd Zarar M. Jenu3a,
a
Research Center for Applied Electromagnetics
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), 86400
Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
1
syarfa@uthm.edu.my
2
ahmed_su2008@yahoo.com
3
zarar@uthm.edu.my

Abstract— Today, railways have numerous communication,
navigation, propulsion, power and control systems. These
systems are operating in a very limited space resulting in
significant interference issues. Therefore, it is crucial to take into
the account the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) through
the project life time starting in the design stage. This paper
presents briefly the EMC management and control plan of Mass
Rapid Transit (MRT) to ensure that the various railway
subsystems can function satisfactorily in their intended
electromagnetic environment. The EMC approach taken in the
MRT Railway project in Malaysia is outlined in this paper. All
the MRT railway communications systems should not disturb the
operation of each other or the other nearby systems. These
communications systems should not be also susceptible to any
intentional/unintentional EMI sources in the MRT railway
environment. The EMC management and control plan is helpful
to avoid EMC/EMI issues of MRT such as EMI sources/ victims
identification and risk assessment starting from the design to
commissioning. Commonly, all the equipment on the railway
must comply to the relevant EMC railway standards such as
EN50121. Furthermore, cable management is significantly
considered especially for very limited spaces such as tunnels.
Finally, the necessary mitigation techniques are recommended to
overcome the unexpected EMC challenges which may occur after
commissioning.
Keywords— Electromagnetic Compatibility; EMC in Railway;
Railway; EMC Management; EMC Control Plan.
I. INTRODUCTION
The population in Klang Valley (KV)- Malaysia is expected
to grow to about 10 million by year 2020 based on study
conducted in 2009 for urban public transport lab. This will
drive a critical need for a reliable and efficient integrated
transport system. Therefore, the government of Malaysia has
planned to develop a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) railway to
meet the demand for efficient transportation system. With
numerous mergers in railway industry in the future, Malaysian
railway development by the initiation of the Mass Rapid
Transit Line 2 (MRT2) and Light Rail Transit Line 3; East
Coast Rail Link and the high-speed rail, a need for a railway
system operate in satisfactorily is in a very high demand.
Basically, EMC is defined as the ability of an equipment or
system to function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic
environment, without introducing intolerable electromagnetic
disturbances to anything in that environment [1]. A system is
electromagnetically compatible with its environment if it
satisfies three criteria:
a. It does not cause interference with other systems;
b. It is not susceptible to emissions from other systems;
c. It does not cause interference with itself.
EMC is concerned with the generation, transmission and
reception of electromagnetic energy. A source produces the
emission and a coupling path transfers the emission energy to
a receptor. Therefore, there are three approaches to prevent
interference.
a. Suppress the emission at its source;
b. Make the coupling path as inefficient as possible;
c. Make the receptor less susceptible to the emission.
These three approaches will be implemented in the design
and implementation of the communication systems (CS) for
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) railway project in Malaysia.
Therefore, several documentations for rail projects are needed
to fulfill the EMC requirement in MRT environment. EMC
documentation for rail projects as follows:
a. Management and Control plan
b. Risk Assessment
c. Procurement Review
d. Design Review and Cable Studies
e. Test Reports (on-Site test and Laboratory)
f. Final Compliant Documentation
g. Timelines
The EMC management and control plan is needed in an
early stage of the implementation. EMC management is the
sets out of the overall scope of EMC activity for a project. It is
based on customer requirements, regulatory requirements,
and/or technical requirements. In the early stage of the EMC
management plan, it sets out responsibilities, actions,
interfaces and documentation required for the project.
 Communication system in railway environment are prone to
the EMI. Eugene Rhee [2] propose several studies on the
EMI/EMC telecommunication intra system between Gimpo
International Airport to Incheon International Airport railway
station. In addition, K.J Satsios [3] reported that there is an
interference caused to telecommunication cables by nearby
AC electric traction lines [3]. This issue has been overcome by
adopting the FEM calculations method and measurements.
Several publications on the EMC in railway issue have been
published in the literature [4-6].
This paper purposes an outline of the management and
control plan to achieve the required level of EMC within the
Commercial Telecom and Information Technology System as
well as with other adjacent equipment or systems in the MRT
Project: Sungai Buloh – Serdang – Putrajaya (SSP)
environment as shown in Figure 1. The next sections describe
the EMC Management activities to be implemented during the
whole life cycle of the project.
Figure 1: Mass Rapid Transit: Sungai Buloh – Serdang – Putrajaya
(SSP)
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) is a significant area
of concern within the railway industry not just due to the
complex electromagnetic environment, but also because
failure to comply will have significant safety and cost
implications.
Overall EMC management is needed for each main system
as shown in Figure 2. Mainly, there are six (6) systems for
EMC Management plan which control by different
contractors. There are EMC management plan for power
supply and depot, EMC management plan for communication
system, EMC management plan for signaling and EMC
management plan for vehicle train. This paper focuses on
EMC management plan for communication system (CS). Even
though each system has been managed by different
contractor/EMC manager, the interfacing and collaboration is
desired between the different systems to ensure every plan is
working satisfactorily. Therefore, it is necessary to assign an
EMC coordinator to coordinate the interfacing issue. The
EMC coordinator can be anyone from the railway project team
and the expertise is not required. The EMC Management team
comprise of EMC consultant, EMC coordinator and EMC
analysts as shown in Figure 3. The systematic organization are
able to execute the EMC management and control plan to
ensure that the EMC requirements are met at all levels of
project.
Figure 2: Overall EMC Management Plan
Figure 3: EMC organization for communication system in railway
environment
A. EMC Management Plan
The good strategy for implementing EMC management plan
can satisfy effectively the customer requirement. Basically,
these requirements have been mentioned in the tender
document in early stage of the railway project design.
However, any customer requirement must be supported by the
regulatory standard and environment/technical obligation. The
main railway standard used in this project is EN 50121-X and
other relevant standard based on the different environments.
It is essential to manage EMC throughout the life cycle of
the project. The EMC management process for this project
shall involve various parties. EMC will be managed from the
design stage through to the installation, commissioning and
the liability periods. For a successful implementation of EMC
management plan, all parties need to cooperate to ensure EMC
compliance for the whole railway environment. The overall
EMC management and control strategy for the CS project is
summarized in Figure 4.
Requirement
EMC Survey
Customer
Hazard
Analysis
EMC Test
Plan
requirement
Regulatory
EMC
Management
EMC Testing
Plan & Report
EMC
Compliance
Environmental
requirement
Matric
Installation &
Assessment
Figure 4: EMC Management plan for the System
B. EMC Control Plan
The EMC Control plan shall outline the steps taken to
ensure that the CS equipment comply with the requirements of
intra-system and intersystem EMC in the railway
environment. CS company shall ensure that the emission and
immunity of the equipment during Pre-installation and Post-
installation shall meet the relevant EMC standards in the
relevant electromagnetic environment. In an event of
extraordinary interference do occur, mitigation methods such
as filtering, bonding and shielding shall be implemented.
Basically, the design work could be divided into two rather
distinct parts. The first part is the intra- system EMC
consideration. In this part, interaction between the various
system components shall be evaluated and actions taken to
reduce such interactions. The second part is the inter-system
EMC consideration, where interactions between the CS
equipment and other equipment operating within the railway
environment must be evaluated and actions taken to reduce
such interactions.
CS contractor shall interface, liaise, coordinate and
exchange EMC data with all other main contractor and
captured in the Interface document to ensure EMC integrity in
the design stage, and to appropriately demonstrate
compatibility in the testing and commissioning stage of the
project in conjunction with these other contractors.
The mechanisms to ensure that EMC compliances are
achieved shall be initiated at the design stage followed by
during installation and commissioning. It is mandatory for
suppliers to produce EMC test reports and certifications for
verification.
Section below outlines the EMC control plan at equipment,
intra-system and inter-system levels.
1) Equipment EMC
As a prerequisite for the design of the subsystems in the CS
project, information on all EMC tests conducted on individual
equipment of the subsystems will be collated, inspected and
verified. This is to ensure that the equipment is able to tolerate
expected interference as well as not to emit intolerable
interference into the environment.
The equipment shall demonstrate compliance with the
several requirements. For train borne equipment (TRE), the
EN 50121 series of EMC standards for emission and immunity
are applicable. Test results from an accredited test laboratory
shall be provided by the suppliers. If any equipment deviates
from the EMC requirements, the justification to deploy the
equipment shall be submitted in the Test Report submission
for consideration prior to installation. The compliance status
of the equipment shall then be recorded in the EMC
Compliance Matrix (produced during EMC Testing & Report
phase).
2) Intra-system EMC
Intra-system EMC is a basic condition for making sure that
each subsystem of the CS project is not a victim of itself.
Therefore, the system designer must ensure that there is no
internal source-to- victim combination that can create a
performance degradation or upset. Intra-system EMC
performance for each subsystem shall be monitored
individually during installation and commissioning at site. An
EMC checklist shall be produced for each subsystem to
indicate EMC performance.
It is anticipated that the intra-system EMC problems in the
CS project will not be an issue since these will be taken care
during the subsystem design stage and during procurement
and installation of equipment for each subsystem.
3) Inter-system EMC
Inter-system EMC is a basic condition for making sure that
each subsystem of the project is not a victim of external
interferences due to other subsystems, other contractor or
external intentional and unintentional sources including
lightning. In order to assess inter-system EMC, information
regarding the immunity and emission levels of all other
equipment that are to be placed in close proximity to the
equipment will be collated and evaluated, including all
environmental data such as electromagnetic field strengths
from nearby broadcasting stations.
The next step would then be the determination of coupling
mechanisms. If the two equipment under consideration are
unlikely to interact (e.g., a great distance away, housed in
separate shielded enclosure, do not share common power
supply system, etc.), then no further action would be taken.
Otherwise, their respective EMC test results would be checked
for compatibility. Again, no further action will be taken at this
point if they are found to be compatible.
Lightning protection aspect shall be considered. CS
contractor should evaluate the lightning protection system,
mitigate and then design accordingly.
Should two subsystems be found to be incompatible
electromagnetically, then negotiation must be carried out
between the CS subsystems or other contractor in order to
determine the best course of action in order to improve on
EMC. Normally, if the incompatibility arises due to one of the
equipment in the subsystem not meeting EMC standards, then
action must be taken to ensure compliance by the said piece of
equipment. On the other hand, if compatibility arises due to
exceptional circumstances such as cabling or grounding, then
mutually acceptable remedies should then be taken.
In the process of harmonizing Inter-System EMC, an EMI
Hazard Analysis Report shall be produced. All EMI risks are
identified and classified in a Hazard Log according to the
likelihood of occurrence as well as severity of consequence.
Subsequently, mitigation measures such as separation,
shielding, filtering, bonding and equal potential earthing may
be required.
withstood and the functional degradation permitted for each
immunity test phenomenon and the maximum levels of
emissions not to cause interference problems with other
apparatus. It will also be determined by the requirements of
the applicable harmonized standard(s) if these are being used.
II. EMC REQUIREMENT FOR COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
The overall requirements for EMC for communication
System (CS) are described in this section. The EMC
requirements within the boundaries of the relevant EMC
standards will be specified at the design stage. The CS system
shall operate normally with no degradation in performance
and functionality within the emission and immunity
boundaries of the EN50121 and EN61000-6-X standards
depending on the intended electromagnetic environment of the
equipment. EN 50121 defines test limits for equipment placed
within a railway boundary. The railway boundary is defined as
an area up to 10 m from the center of the nearest running line
as shown in Figure 5. The limits in the standard applicable to
the railway boundary are generally equivalent to limits defined
in heavy industry environment. Some specific limits are
provided for equipment placed within 3 m from the center of
the nearest running line. Beyond this 10 m railway zone, light
industrial standards for EMC apply.

4) Control of Suppliers Center of the track

To ensure that the equipment supplied by the manufacturers
or the suppliers meet the EMC requirements, the contractor
3m
will include the safety and EMC specifications and
requirements in the contractual agreement of the supply. These
requirements will act as criteria according to which CS Train
contractor selects the suppliers, which should be able to
provide acceptable evidence of actual performance and can
actually satisfy the engineering needs.
The contractor will check the suppliers’ evidence of EMC
performance and quality control and request them to provide
the EMC test reports and test certificates as a guide to the
intended use of the equipment and the competence of the
suppliers.

5) EMC Test Plan

The EMC Test Plan for the project is a document to 10 m (Railway zone)
describe the list of EMC tests, methods and specifications for
offsite and onsite EMC tests. Offsite tests will be carried out
by the suppliers of the equipment. CS contractor will be >10 m (Lite Industrial Zone)
provided with the EMC Test Reports and certificates of
compliance. In most cases, the offsite EMC Test will be
performed in accredited test laboratory at the manufacturing
stage. Figure 5: Zoning allocation for railway environment
Onsite EMC tests shall be performed by specialists
appointed by the contractor. They will conduct an assessment
before appointing the organization which has the competency The application of level differentiation on EMC
and experience to perform the EMC onsite testing. requirement by zoning as outlined in the previous paragraph is
The content of the EMC Test Plan will be determined by the applicable only if there is no other infrastructure or systems in
specification of the electromagnetic environment to be the vicinity of the railway. The zoning is for guidance in the
determination of applicable EMC standards for the various CS
equipment during the conceptual design stage. The zoning
perimeter is to be adapted accordingly when more information
is made available on the presence of strong electromagnetic
field sources such as at substation and radiating antennas.
There shall be sufficient protection to prevent EMI of the
CS system from affecting the operation of other Systems in
the environment and being affected by other systems.
Equipment supplied by the supplier that is deemed likely to
produce or be susceptible to electromagnetic disturbance, shall
be tested and certified to meet the minimum requirements
specified in the relevant EMC standards and to the satisfaction
of the customer and shall be supplied with suitable evidence of
testing in the form of test reports and test certificates. The CS
system shall avoid the use of frequency bands which have
been occupied by other Systems or will cause Electromagnetic
Interference (EMI) to and from other systems through proper
frequency planning and intermodulation analysis.
Notwithstanding that the individual apparatus of the CS
system complies with relevant EMC immunity and emission
levels; they do not of themselves guarantee that the integration
of apparatus will necessarily be satisfactory. As a prerequisite,
the individual apparatus to be installed in the project must
comply with the relevant EMC standards based on its intended
EM environment. The performance after integration of
apparatus shall be monitored and mitigation measures to be
implemented if interference to other apparatus or susceptibility
from other apparatus occurs.
A. Emission
The interference from an equipment or system can be in the
form of radiated emission, conducted emission, harmonic and
flicker. The sources of radiated and conducted emissions are
differential mode and common-mode currents existing in the
circuit or cables attached to the equipment. It is desirable to
test components, equipment, subsystems and whole system to
see whether they emit beyond allowable emission limits.
Conducted emission should be tested to not exceeding 30
MHz for noise currents propagating through conductive
medium such as ac/dc power lines, input-output lines and
earth lines. Radiated emission to be measured at frequencies
above 30 MHz in special test-sites such as Open Area Test
Sites and Anechoic Chamber. Implementation of best
practices in circuit design, grounding, bonding, filtering and
shielding should results in emission within the acceptable
limits.
Harmonic and flicker emission limits are to control the
harmonic currents and voltage changes due to equipment
connected to public power supply system.
When one item of equipment is in close proximity to
another, low frequency magnetic fields can cause interference.
This is especially a problem for CRT image ‘wobble’, but also
for baseband circuits such as instrumentation, video and audio,
whose circuits and cables can couple with the magnetic fields
and suffer significant amounts of crosstalk in some situations.
There are no harmonized EMC emissions standards which
include any requirements to measure such magnetic fields. As
such, apparatus which emits excessive magnetic fields should
be controlled by implementing various techniques such as
separation from magnetically sensitive device and usage of
high permeability material for diverting the stray magnetic
field.
The CS equipment are expected not to introduce harmful
radiated and conducted emissions to other equipment or
system in the SSP Line environment because individual
equipment shall be tested based on the relevant EMC
standards. Declaration of Conformity shall be issued by
suppliers for verification purpose. As a minimum, the
maximum emission levels of the equipment shall not exceed
the levels specified in EN 61000-6-4.
EMC engineer must ensure that the EMI generation for
telecommunication apparatus in railway environment complies
with EN 50121-4 and electrical and electronic apparatus and
systems intended for use in railway fixed installations
associated with power supply comply with EN 50121-5. The
maximum levels of radiated EMI and conducted emission of
the TRE or within 3 m from the center of the track shall not
exceed the levels specified in the EN-50121-3-2 as shown in
Figure 5. The details of the emission tests needed as well as
the test levels required.
Onsite EMI test shall be performed if interference to other
CS subsystems or within the main systems such as signaling to
identify the interference source for mitigation measures to be
implemented.
Intentional emissions from radiating antennas and portable
transceivers which are deployed in the CS system shall not
interfere with other equipment in the environment (including
cardiac pacemakers) if the other equipment have met the
relevant radiated immunity standards.
Moving trains are considered as mobile interference sources
which possibly can affect the performance of sensitive
equipment located along the train routes such as in hospitals,
research facilities and factories. As such all possible victims of
EMI along the train routes due to the CS equipment installed
on board the train shall be identified and mitigated.
B. Immunity
Immunity is defined as the ability of a device, equipment or
system to perform without degradation in the presence of
electromagnetic interference. Systems installed in a railway
environment are very much required to possess sufficient level
of immunity against the various interference sources. These
sources of interference can be:
a. High voltage line to substations;
b. Traction system;
c. Wayside radios;
d. Portable radios and phones;
e. Telecommunication equipment;
f. Auxiliary apparatus with high power ratings;
g. Auxiliary power converters.
Any sensitive electronic equipment shall be capable of
operating in an environment with substantial amounts of
radiated interference present. The equipment may be subjected
to radiated energy from handheld transceivers and other
communications systems.
CS equipment which are installed on-board train shall
comply with the immunity requirements as specified in EN
50121-3-2. EN 50121-4 standard applies for the immunity of
CS equipment which are installed in the railway environment
(excluding on-board train).
The equipment shall possess sufficient immunity against
conducted and radiated interferences. The tests to be the
conducted are as follows:
a. RF Radiated Interference;
b. RF Conducted Interference;
c. Induced Interference;
d. Electrostatic Discharge;
e. Electrical Fast transients/Bursts;
f. Voltage Surge;
g. Magnetic Field;
h. Voltage Dips and Voltage Interruptions.
This is by no means an exhaustive list but it gives an
indication of the main immunity tests for the CS equipment.
The immunity of equipment against the aforementioned
conditions shall be tested according to the test frequencies and
severities. However, exclusion shall be made to the test
requirements if the frequencies and levels of the interference
sources are known.
III. CONCLUSIONS
The EMC Management and Control Plan shall describe the
philosophy and procedure to be taken, including mitigation
measures, if necessary, during the various stages to ensure that
the EMC of the CS equipment with its environment, including
that of the other suppliers. When designing the equipment, it is
necessary to take a number of precautions to ensure that its
EMC performance requirements can be met. Trying to fix the
EMC performance once the equipment has been designed and
built will be more difficult and costly. Therefore, the main
concern in EMC Management Plan and Control Plan is all the
main issue of EMC need to be take into consideration in early
of the design stage. This paper can be a guideline to an EMC
engineer on how the EMC Management and Control Plan have
been conducted.
IV. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge Universiti Tun
Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) for their funding of this
research under Research Acculturation Grant Scheme (RAGS)
research grant, R069.
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