An Application of Reliability Analysis on the Signaling System of the Kaohsiung Metro

The Metro system is an important index of a modern city. The quality, performance and safety of Metro systems are highly monitored because of their huge cost, complex engineering and long building time. Signaling (SIG) provides train with the Automatic Train Control (ATC) function in order to satisfy the needs of high transportation, high efficiency, safety and comfort. SIG also supervises train operations and provides safe routes to avoid dangerous situations. The capability of SIG is related to the comfort and safety of passengers on the trip. Thus, reliability analysis of SIG is important and necessary. This paper analyzed the reliability of SIG systems of an Metro system based on Reliability Block Diagrams (RBD), reliability equations and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The researchers analyzed the reliability of SIG systems using the actual operating data from the Kaohsiung Metro. The results proved that the proposed method of reliability analysis could find the critical failures in SIG systems effectively. And the results can be used as a reference to determine critical items of equipment maintenance and the order of equipment purchasing.