A team from the National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Centre (Hong Kong Branch) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) was commissioned to scrutinise the operational performance of Rio de Janeiro metro trains before the official launch of the Olympic line at Rio de Janeiro on 30 July 2016. This new metro line of 16 km long serves to carry Olympic athletes and spectators commuting between downtown Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Village. The trains serving this line, with a maximum speed of 100 km/h and a capacity for 2,240 passengers, were supplied by Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. (CRVC), a subsidiary of China Railway Rolling-Stock Corporation (CRRC).
Commissioned by CRVC, the PolyU team took on the mission to scrutinise the CRVC trains operating in Rio de Janeiro metro lines before the Rio Olympics 2016. Making use of the optical fibre sensing technology developed at PolyU, the team carried out comprehensive monitoring on critical components of both motor and trailer cars, including bogie, axle box, lifting plate, gear box, antenna beam and traction motor. In line with industry standards, the on-board monitoring lasted for four days with a cumulated mileage of 500 km.
The PolyU team is proud to have participated in this important mission of structural monitoring at the critical juncture approaching the Rio 2016 Olympics. Professor Yiqing Ni, Director of the National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Centre (Hong Kong Branch) at PolyU, said "After evaluating the operational performance of the metro trains with complete data about acceleration, strain and temperature collected from the trains running at different lines, we found that the metro trains operate in satisfactory and healthy conditions which are critical for safety and stability of movement of the trains, even when travelling at full speed."
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