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Director's Message

Ir Chair Prof. Yi-qing Ni

Chair Prof. Yi-qing Ni

BEng, MSc, PhD, F.HKIE, M.ISHMII, M.ASCE, M.IEEE, M.IABMAS, M.IALCCE

Yim, Mak, Kwok & Chung Professor in Smart Structures &

Chair Professor of Smart Structures and Rail Transit, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Director of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (Hong Kong Branch)

Over the past year, the abrupt outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic over the world has significantly influenced all walks of life, including the Hong Kong Branch of the National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (CNERC-Rail), but the pandemic never stopped our pace of research and development.

It can be seen from the stress on accelerating interconnecting infrastructure in the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, to the statement of constructing “Greater Bay Area on Tracks” in the Reply to the Intercity Railway Construction Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2020, that all levels of governments are offering great anticipation and solid support to the development of railway in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), in terms of both macro strategies and specific policies. The CNERC-Rail has been taking the opportunity, actively participating in the development of the GBA, and helping the GBA take off upon railway tracks. Throughout the past year, the CNERC-Rail has participated in the drafting work of the Rail Transit Industry Development Report for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the role of associating editor unit, applied for research projects including Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, Technology Transfer Project of Research Outcomes in Hong Kong and Guangdong, New Engineering Research and Application Project of the Ministry of Education, Hong Kong-Macao-Taiwan Science and Technology Collaborative Project of Shanghai, in collaboration with multiple universities and enterprises in the GBA. Besides, the CNERC-Rail has initiated all kinds of collaborative work with China Railway Guangzhou Group Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Metro Group Co., Ltd., China Railway Guangzhou Engineering Group Co., Ltd. on many engineering and consultancy projects such as Guangzhou-Shanwei high speed rail and noise and vibration control of Guangzhou Metro.

In 2020, Center members overcame all kinds of difficulties and conducted a series of fruitful research activities. A 5-month in-situ testing and monitoring work was carried out on Shanghai Lingang maglev test line using our self-developed onboard and online monitoring system to investigate problems of viaduct stiffness, rail track anomalies, train vibrations and design optimization of rail turnout; four in-situ tests were conducted consecutively on Wenzhou urban rail lines to research into issues of rail noises, noise reduction and vibration mitigation, rail corrugation, etc.; rail corrugation state test was carried out in the curve segment of a Shenzhen metro line; evaluation of train bogie vibration was conducted in Nanning Metro in Guangxi Province. These in-situ testing and monitoring activities provided abundant and valuable data for scientific research.

At last, on behalf of all members in CNERC-Rail, I would like to express my special gratitude to the National Ministry of Science and Technology, the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong S.A.R. and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on their great support to the CNERC-Rail. Hopefully we can make more substantial progress in the new year.

 

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