Preamble

Visitors to Hong Kong are often amazed by the contradictions in its

The University of Hong Kong physical environments: the dazzling architecture despite the dense
population, the preservation of the natural landscape despite crazy real
GEOG7006/CIVL6054 - Engineering for Transport Systems estate developments, and the smooth transportation despite the heavy
Rail-based Transport Systems traffic. Indeed, Hong Kong’s public transport, and notably, the MTR
system is carrying hundreds of thousand passengers each day and has
become an integral part of the citizens’ daily life. The MTR Corporation
L6 Engineering for Railway Systems (1) has boasted of her world recognized status in terms of punctuality and
- Introduction and Overview safety of service provided to the citizens.
This series of four lectures will introduce the engineering aspects of the
fixed-track systems. Using local and overseas examples, the lectures will
trace the historical and conceptual background of the evolution of
different railway systems; discuss the planning, policy & administration
Professor CK MAK
BSc (Eng.) MSc (Urb.Plan) FICE FCILT FHKIE FHKIHT FHKEng for network expansion; show the application of engineering technology
ckmak@hku.hk to tackle physical constraints; and highlight some of the institutional
11 October 2022 aspects of the complex development process.

1 2

Railway Infrastructures are mega-projects. Discussions on issues

beyond supply and demand will situate planning and decision-
making for railway development in the socio-economic-
environmental context. These conceptual ideas will lead to the
formulation of a conceptual framework for sustainable urban
transport.
In my first lecture (Lecture 6), we will first look at the fixed track
components and see how they constitute the Railway System. The
reference papers uploaded on Moodle provide basic readings on the
railway system. Please browse them and use the Worksheet to re-
visit the content after class. The article on metro development by
UITP President Dr-Ing Fritz Pampel is a highly relevant and succinct
article. The information will be useful for Lecture 7 – the focus is on
Metro development.
Note:
1. Presentation slides will be uploaded after each lecture.
2. Check Moodle for the latest information.
GEOG7006 / CIVL6054 – L6, 7, 8 and 9
Rail-based Transport Systems
L6 (11/10) Engineering for Railway Systems (1) - Introduction &
Overview
L7 (18/10) Engineering for Railway Systems (2) – The Case for
Metros, World Metros, HK’s Transport Policy & RDS
25/10 Assignment 2 – submission date: 29 November 2022
Engineering for Railway Systems (3) – Mainline
L8 (1/11) Railways, Project Feasibility, Mountains & Rivers Give
Way; Railway Stations & Rail plus Property Model
Engineering for Railway Systems (4) – Beyond Supply &
L9 (8/11) Demand, Planning as Decision Making, Sustainable
Transport

3 4

L6 Engineering for Railway Systems (1)

– Introduction & Overview

1. The Fixed Track

- Track components
- Speed on Curves 1. The Fixed Track
- Switches and Crossings
2. The Systems Concept
- Railway Systems
- Railway Safety & Risk Management
3. Railway Infrastructure
- Railway Assets
- Networks
- Institutional Aspects

5 6

1
 “At 8:29am on 17
September 2019, a
derailment incident
occurred on East Rail
Line when a 12-car
passenger train was
entering Platform 1 of
Hung Hom Station ...”

Technical Investigation Report

on Train Derailment Incident
at Hing Hom Stataion on MTR
East Rail Line
EMSD 2020 0303

7 8

Axles and Bogie

Train Safety & Fixed Tracks

9 10

The Fixed Track Structure

CL
FLANGE
WHEEL
轮缘

AXLE

RAIL FASTENED
TO SLEEPER

BALLAST

TRACK GAUGE (S)

The Track Structure The Track Gauge (S)

Rail, Fastenings, Sleeper, 1435 mm (4’ 8.5”) standard
Ballast 1067 mm narrow
1524 mm wide
ballast 道轧

11 12

2
 bogie 转向架

BOGIE

W
BO-BO
W
CO-CO

W/2 W/2

13 14

CL
TRACK LAYING SEQUENCE

(1) Prepare formation and

setting out track alignment

(2) Place bottom ballast

(3) Place sleeper and rail

(4) Lay track to correct line &

level, fasten rail to sleeper,
packing & welding if required

welding 焊接

(5) Boxing up further packing

and final adjustment of line
and level Step 1 - Setting rails in position

15 16

Step 2 –
Setting rails in
correct position
& pre-heating

Rail mould and Slag Bowl

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3
 Rail mould, Slag bowl set in position Step 3 - Pour metal into Crucible

19 20

Step 4 - Thermit welding in progress Step 4 – Welding in progress

Fe2O3 + 2Al = 2Fe + Al2O3 + 181.5 Kcal

21 22

Step 5 – Removing mould Step 5 – Removing mould

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4
 1. Jointed Track

2. Continuous Welded
Rail (CWR)
25 m lengths rails are
factory-welded to form
100m or 500m lengths

The long rails are

delivered to site and site-
welded to form 2 km or
even longer lengths of
track

Finished Product - grinding

25 26

Steel Rails –
Common Standards

1. International Rail
Union (Union International
Chemin de Fer)
UIC54, UIC60
2. British Standard
BS113A, 90R, 95A etc

3. Chinese Standard
50, 60 Kg/m

27 28

Pandrol Clips

Fastenings
1. Macbeth Spikes
2. Dog Spikes
3. Pandrol Clips

29 30

5
31 32

TRACK GAUGE

Speed on Curves
ON STRAIGHT TRACK

SUPERELEVATION
E, CANT
D, CANT DEFICIENCY

ON CURVED TRACK

33 34

(mv2 / R) / mg = E / S
mv2 / R mv2 / R
v2 / gR = E / S

E = S v2 / gR
mg mg
E = 11.82 ( v2 / R)

SUPERELEVATION S, Track Gauge

or CANT SUPERELEVATION
E, CANT
D, CANT DEFICIENCY

SPEED ON CURVES ON CURVED TRACK

35 36

6
 Speed and Super-elevation on CURVED TRACK

1. Equilibrium cant E = 11.82 ( Ve2 / R )

2. Equilibrium speed Ve = 0.29 (RE)1/2

3. Max. permissible speed Vm = 0.29 [R(E+D)]1/2

SUPERELEVATION
E, CANT
D, CANT DEFICIENCY

37 38

Typical Cross Section on Viaduct - Structure Gauge

Structure Gauge,
Switches & Crossings Curves

39 40

Typical Cross Section on Tunnel - Structure Gauge

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7
 Switches and Crossings

43 44

45 46

“Railway technology is not an autonomous applied

2. Systems Concept for Railways
science. It makes demand on the many disciplines
making up the art of the engineer: civil engineering,
metallurgy, electro-technology, electronics, power
systems, control systems, telecommunications and so
on.”
-- Bernard de Fontgalland
The World Railway System

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8
 International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)
Definition of a SYSTEM Fast
Safe
A System is a construct to collection of different elements that
together produce results not obtainable by the elements alone.
Frequent
The elements, or parts, can include people, hardware, software,
facilities, polices and document; that is, all things required to
produce system-level results. Reliable Basic Concept
The results include system level qualities, properties,
characteristics, functions, behaviour and performance.
Efficient
The value added by the system as a whole, beyond that
contributed independently by the parts, is primarily created by Environmentally
the relationship among the parts, that is, how they are Friendly
interconnected (E. Rechtin 2000)

49 50

Risk = (The severity of a Hazard) x (the Likelihood of its Occurrence)
Case 1 – Eschede Derailment Catastrophe, Germany (German worst train accident)
3 June 1998, 101 deaths, 103 injuries
Incident – The steel tyre on a wheel on the third axle of the first car , fatally weakened
by metal fatigue, split and peeled away from the wheel. This was the cause of the
subsequent derailment of the train when passing a point. The train car was thrown
sideways into the piers of an overbridge causing the bridge to collapse and hit the fifth
car of the train. All cars after car 5 derailed. Very few survivors in the rear carriages
which crashed into the concrete bridge pier at 200 km/h making it the worst train
accident in Germany – a catastrophe.

Risks are ranked into four (4) main categories as Catastrophic, Critical, Marginal
and Negligible and 4 classes of consequence as Unacceptable, Undesirable,
Tolerable and Acceptable.

Risk reduction is by reducing likelihood and/or severity

51 52

Case 2 – Hatfield Accident, England
17 Oct 2000, 4 deaths, more than 70 injuries
Incident - An Express train travelling from London Kings Cross to Leeds derailed roughly
0.8 km south of Hatfield Station apparently due to a fractured left hand rail on the
down fast line. The train was travelling between 185 and 188 km/h. Whilst the loco and
the first two coaches remained on the track, eight cars derailed to different degrees of
severity.
Case 3 – Great Heck Collision (Selby Rail Crash) England
28 Feb 2001, 10 fatalities, 82 injuries
Incident - A Land Rover swerved off M62 motorway at Great Heck, Selby, struck a high-
speed passenger train. The passenger train derailed and collided with an oncoming
freight train at an estimated closing speed on 228 km/h.

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9
 Case 4 – High-speed trains collision, Wenzhou, China
23 July 2011, 40 deaths, 192 injuries
Incident - Two high-speed trains (D301 from BeiJing and D3115 from Hangzhou) travelling
in the same direction on the Yongtaiwen railway line collided apparently at moderate speed
of 99 km/h. The first four car of D301 at the back hit and climbed car no 16 of D3115,
derailed and fell off the viaduct. Post incident investigation pointed to critical defects in
signal design and poor operation management being the main cause. This is the first HSR
fatal crash in China and the third deadliest HSR accident in history after the Eschede
derailment in Germany (1989) and Santiago de Compostela derailment in Spain (2013).
Case 5 – Hualien Accident, Taiwan
2 April 2021, 49 deaths, more than 202 injuries
Incident - A construction truck fell off the side slope onto the railway track where a
Taroko Express train, though with heavy braking, failed to stop and collided with the
truck. The collision caused the train to derail and after entering the tunnel further
clashed with the tunnel wall. Car Nos 7 and 8 were heavily damaged and accounted for
most of the fatalities.

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Safety - Safety of … Swiss Cheese model

 Travelling Public In this model, lines of defence against an incident occurring are
conceptualized as slices of Swiss cheese with vulnerabilities presented as
- Travelling in and through stations holes in the cheese
- Riding on trains – Collisions, fires, derailment, Electrification
 Operating Personnel
- Train operation
- Handling goods
- Dealing with accidents - derailment, animals and suicides
 Track-side Workers – maintenance personnel
- Track
- Equipment
- Structure & New works
 Third Party Safety
- Falling objects
- Trespass & Vandalism
See: Reasons, J, Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents, 1997
- Level crossing, Over or Under bridges

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Swiss Cheese model - Knowing, Applying and Ensuring Knowing + Applying + Ensuring = Assurance
In ICE’s Review Panel Report, “In Plain Sight”, the Swiss cheese model was
used for analyzing the causes; identifying the lines of defence in the Knowing
infrastructure system, the location of vulnerabilities (holes) and the 1. Asset condition data
2. Learning from previous failures
likelihood of holes aligning to create the conditions for a disaster, as well as
3. CPD – continuous learning
the to add new slices of cheese to increase the defence (redundancy).
Applying
1. Standards & Regulations
2. Attention to quality Design & Construction
3. Suitably qualified & experienced persons
4. Code of Professional Conduct
5. Client Organization – accountability & responsibilities

Ensuring
1. Governance & Decision Making
2. Incorporating previous lessons into investment cases
3. Independent scrutiny
4. Asset Stewardship
5. Cyber security

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10
 3. Railway Infrastructure & Assets Railway Infrastructure & Railway Assets (1)
- The Family of Rolling Stocks
- The evolution of Railway Networks

61 62

Fixed Track Systems – Family of Rolling Stocks (1)

The family of Rolling Stocks

Steam locomotive Shinkansen, Japan

TGV, France
Diesel-Electric locomotive

63 64

Fixed Track Systems – Family of Rolling Stocks (2)

Railway Infrastructure & Railway Assets (2)

Fixed Track Systems in Hong Kong

– a humble beginning

Monorail, Automatic People Mover

- Capacity - 20,000 pphpd (passenger per
hour per direction
- MTR capacity ≧70,000pphpd

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11
 The Peak Tram

The Peak Tram

Track gauge 1520 mm (4 ft 11.84 in.)
Opened : 30 May 1888
Daily passengers: 17,000

67 68

The HK Tramway The HK Tramway

Track Gauge: 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in)
Opened: 30 July 1904
Daily passengers: 180,000 (2015)

69 70

Kowloon-Canton Railway KCR

Track Gauge: 1435 mm (4 ft. 8.5 in.) Original Route at Kowloon
Opened: 1 Oct 1910

Opening of the KCR Chinese

Section on 5 Oct 1911

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12
 Kowloon-Canton-Railway KCR

Canton
(Guangzhou)

The Early KCR Train

The first locomotives were manufactured in 1909 by the British company Kitson.
The loc has a wheel configuration of 2-6-4 and is unusual in that it has internal
cylinders.

Shenzhen
The KCR through train
service began in 1911,
and after 38 years, was
stopped in 1949 Kowloon

73 74

Fixed Track Systems: Early Years

1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 …

Peak Tram (1888)

HK Tramway (1904)

The KCR
1970’s KCR (British Section)
(1910)
Double Tracking
1980’s
Electrification & Modernization

75 76

The Hong Kong MTR

1967 - HK MTR Study
1970 – HK MTR Further Study
1973 – Decision to build MTR
Initial System (20 km)
1975 - Modified Initial System
(MIS)
 The Kwun Tong Line (KTL)
- 15.6 km
- 12 underground stations
- 3 elevated stations
- HK$ 5.8 Billion
- 30 Sep 1979 Opening

2014 - Island Line Extension to Kennedy Town

2016 - South Island Line opened
2021 - Tuen Mun to Ma On Shan Line
and ….
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13
 Hong Kong Legislations
HK Law Title Enactment / Amendment Dates
Cap 276 MTR (Land Resumption & Related 23 Aug 1974
Provisions) Ordinance
Cap 270 MTRC Ordinance 26 Sep 1975 - Repealed 30 Jun
2000
Cap 372 KCRC Ordinance 24 Dec 1982 / 1986, 1998, 2007
Cap 519 Railways Ordinance 11 Jul 1997
Cap 556 MTR Ordinance Enacted 30 Jun 2000 / 2007

Cap 123 Buildings Ordinance 1 Jun 1956

Cap 370 Roads (Works, Use & 18 Jun 1982
Compensation) Ordinance
Cap 127 Foreshore& Seabed Reclamation 9 Aug 1985
Ordinance
Cap 499 EIAO Ordinance 1 Apr 1998
Cap 531 Protection of the Harbour 30 Jun 1997 / 1998, 1999
Ordinance

79 80

Piccadilly Line: Heathrow - Cockfosters (1)

81 82

Piccadilly Line: Heathrow - Cockfosters (2)

Piccadilly Line: Heathrow - Cockfosters (3)

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14
 Railway Infrastructure & Railway Assets (3)

National & Strategic Networks, Intercity Services

The Jing-zhang Railway, China’s first railway line, runs from

Fengtai (in Beijing) to Zhangjiakou. It has a total route length
of 198 km. Construction of the railway started on 2 October
1905 and was opened to traffic on 24 September 1909.

85 86

Zhan Tianyou (26 April 1861 – 24 April 1919)

– the chief designer of the Jingzhang Railway

87 88

89 90

15
91 92

93 94

Dr Sun Yat-sen inspected the Jing-zhang Railway in 1912

- photo taken at the Ming Shisanling

95 96

16
 The Tibet Railway

97 98

Shinkansen – the bullet train The French HSR

 The French railways

(SNCF) operates one
of the most
technologically
advanced railway in
the world, the high
speed Train a Grande
Vitesse (TGV)

99 100

China Railway High-speed (CRH)

101 102

17
 Airport Railway (AR) 34 km
Airport Express Line ( 機埸快綫 )
Railway Infrastructure & Railway Assets (4) TCL ( 東涌綫 )

Urban Railways (Metros, Subways, Underground),

Airport Railways, Maglevs, Scenic Rails

103 104

The Narita Express, Tokyo

The Narita Express

connects the Narita
Airport with

 Tokyo in 53 mins.
 Shinjuku in 74 mins.
 Yokohama in 85
mins

105 106

Jungfrau, Switzerland
Jungfraujoch (Jungfrau Station) 3,454m 11,333ft

Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line

107 108

18
 The Jungfrau Railway
Adolf Guyer-Zeller (1839-1899) sketched the final plan for the
trajectory of the railway in his notebook on 27 Aug 1893. With date and
initials, he documented that his decision to build the railway was not to
moved.

July 1896 – construction started

Feb 1912 – piercing of the Jungfrau Station (after 16 years)

109 110

“… In many possible applications, fixed

guideway is a superior strategy. But whatever
strategy is finally selected, each should be
evaluated not in the context of transportation
alone, nor solely in the framework of accounting.
It should be measured in the broader context of
its contribution to the overall long-term
aspirations of the urban society it is supposed to
serve. ”

-- Louis J Garnbaccini

111 112

End of Lecture 6
Thank you

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