A new rail damper developed by the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (CNERC-Rail) at PolyU has recently won an award in a national competition and put in trial use in Shenzhen Metro system.

The Modular Rail Particle Damper (MRPD), developed by a research team led by Professor Ni Yiqing, Yim, Mak, Kwok & Chung Professor in Smart Structures, Chair Professor of Smart Structures and Rail Transit in Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of CNERC-Rail, was awarded Third Prize in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition organized by the National Innovation Center of High Speed Train and Qingdao Rail Transit Industry Demonstration Zone Management, China. PolyU was among the nearly 400 institutions that participated in the competition.

By employing a novel approach using rail particle damping technology and advanced machine learning algorithm, MRPD can mitigate and control noise and vibration in rail transit systems.

The new dampers have already been installed for trial use at a viaduct section of the Shenzhen Metro in January 2022 and will be extended to other urban rail transit systems in China afterwards.