Analysis Of Railroad Fiber Optic Cable Failure And Safety Protection Measures

First, the railroad cable failure analysis
( I ) Causes
1. man-made factors man-made damage is the main cause of railroad cable failure, including the construction process of accidental injury, improper operation of equipment maintenance, as well as the surrounding villages to repair the road, planting, soil, and so on, and even some people mistakenly believe that the cable is a copper-containing cables for theft, a serious threat to the safety of the railroad cable line, resulting in damage to the railroad cable or communication interruption. From the construction of accidents caused by off-road units adjacent to the business line construction digging off the fiber optic cable, damage to equipment and facilities and other reasons for the construction work caused by more accidents. Mainly in the construction of enterprises or individuals do not contact the railroad department, in the absence of clear information on the bottom of the equipment, do not have a construction permit, unauthorized construction, blind operation, destruction of railroad equipment and jeopardize the safety of traffic. External man-made damage also includes soil extraction, sand digging, ditch digging and air mining operations within the prescribed range on both sides of the railroad line.
2. Environmental factors Environmental factors include wind, rain, snow and geological disasters and other external natural factors, belonging to force majeure. Such as earthquakes, floods, lightning strikes, etc. may cause damage to the cable, the optical fiber in the railroad cable is more sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity, at the same time, acid rain, corrosive gases, etc. may also cause damage to the cable.
3. equipment factors Equipment aging, quality and other issues, may lead to cable failure. For example, poor contact of fiber optic connectors, increasing splice loss over a longer period of time, damage to pigtail bends, etc.

(II) Impacts caused Railway optical cable failures will have a serious impact on railway communications and train operations, which are specifically reflected in the following aspects.
1. Communication interruption Railway optical cable failures will affect train operation control, signal transmission, etc., such as the failure of communication control functions related to train dispatching and control, such as vehicle-machine joint control, synchronous reconnection of 10,000-ton trains, and the failure of traffic organization control functions such as inter-station transportation networks and blocked channels, which will seriously affect the safety of train operation.
2. Equipment damage Failures may cause equipment damage, thereby further expanding the scope of impact. For example, poor contact of optical fiber connectors may cause failures of transmission, switches and other equipment, thereby affecting the normal operation of the entire communication system.
3. Safety protection Failures may also affect railway emergency rescue and safety protection, seriously threatening the safe operation of railways. When an emergency occurs, due to communication interruption, rescue personnel cannot grasp the situation on the scene in time, thereby delaying the rescue opportunity.

II, the safety of railroad cable protection measures for the above railroad cable failure problems, can take the following protection measures.
( I ) Strengthen the construction supervision should establish a strict construction supervision system to ensure that the construction along the railroad can be effectively monitored. The construction of the cable may be involved, especially the reconstruction, expansion and other projects, should strengthen the site supervision, to prevent excavators, heavy vehicles and other damage to the cable. At the same time, advanced monitoring technology should be introduced for all-round monitoring, such as drone inspection, infrared alarm system. For the fiber optic cable failure points that have appeared, need to repair in a timely manner, while improving the level of operational skills of the construction site personnel in order to take rapid measures to repair when a failure occurs.
( II ) Strengthen equipment maintenance In general, the communication cable will be used in the way of deep burial, in order to extend the service life and improve reliability. Therefore, in the daily maintenance, not only to effectively monitor the fiber loss problem, but also a comprehensive analysis of the climate, geology and other environmental conditions, strengthen equipment maintenance, develop a scientific and effective maintenance program to ensure that the cable is safe and reliable. In some extreme weather, there may be problems such as waterlogging of pipes, landslides, steep slopes exposed to rainwater scouring, which in turn affects the corresponding equipment, and dynamic control must be implemented. If not handled properly, it may increase the failure rate of communication cables due to fiber optic cable stress or water in the joint box, etc., thus shortening the service life of communication cables. Regular inspection and maintenance of railroad fiber optic cables also includes inspection and cleaning of fiber optic connectors, maintenance of fiber optic cable pathways and ancillary equipment. At the same time, advanced detection equipment and technology should be used for fault location, such as fiber optic detector, optical time domain reflectometer and fiber optic online monitoring system.
( III ) Improve emergency response capability Emergency response is a crucial part of the safety protection of railroad cables, improve emergency response capability, can start from the following aspects.

1. Establishment of a sound emergency plan For a variety of possible fiber optic cable failures, the establishment of a sound emergency plan, should be detailed provisions of the alarm after the failure, response, treatment and recovery processes, to ensure that failures can be quickly and effectively responded to. First of all, when formulating the emergency plan, it is necessary to fully consider various possible failure situations, such as breakage, damage, flooding, etc.. For each failure scenario, the relevant alarm mechanism should be clearly defined, including the means to be used to notify relevant personnel, such as telephone, SMS and email. Secondly, in the response phase after a fault occurs, the responsible person and the corresponding action plan should be clearly defined. The emergency plan should describe the response process under different failure situations, including summoning relevant personnel, understanding the specifics of the failure, assessing the scope of impact and urgency, and formulating the corresponding disposal plan. At the same time, an emergency contact person should be set up to ensure timely communication and coordination with relevant units and personnel in case of emergency. Again, in the fault handling stage, the specific disposal process and operational steps should be clear. According to different fault conditions, develop corresponding restoration programs to ensure that the required materials, equipment and technicians are in place in a timely manner, but also to ensure the safety and operability of the operation, follow the relevant safety standards and operating procedures. Finally, in the fault recovery phase, a detailed recovery plan is formulated, including all the steps and time schedules from fault resolution to system re-commissioning. After the fault repair is completed, testing and verification are also carried out to ensure that the fiber optic cable can operate normally.
2. Cultivate a professional emergency repair team In the field of communications, the use of fiber optic cables is very important. However, affected by various factors, fiber optic cable failures occur from time to time, resulting in communication disruption and degradation of service quality. In order to ensure the stability and continuous operation of the network, it is necessary to establish a specialized emergency repair team, consisting of professionally trained and assessed personnel, with the ability to deal with various kinds of fiber optic cable faults, including quickly locating the fault location, analyzing the cause of the fault, and quickly carrying out repair operations. In order to improve the overall quality of the emergency repair team, a systematic training program should be developed, a comprehensive set of training courses, regular emergency training and education to improve the level of knowledge of the relevant personnel on fiber optic cable faults, to ensure that in case of emergency, the relevant personnel can accurately judge and take the correct repair measures to ensure that the fault is handled in a timely manner and efficiency. The training includes the construction of fiber optic cable, fiber optic cable fault diagnosis and repair, emergency repair operation procedures and hazardous materials handling, etc., so that the repair team members can understand the characteristics and working principle of fiber optic cable, so that they can better identify and solve the problem. Regular training can enhance the skills and knowledge reserve of the team members, improve their adaptability in the actual repair, to avoid cable failure affecting train communications.
3. Strengthen the emergency material reserve Fiber optic cable is the foundation of information transmission, once broken or damaged, it will affect the normal operation of the whole network. Therefore, we need to ensure that the inventory is sufficient to ensure that when needed, we can quickly obtain the required fiber optic cable. Fiber optic cable is also essential to the matching connector box. A splice box is used to connect fiber optic cables and has the function of protecting the fiber. If a splice closure is damaged or malfunctions, it can lead to network outages and signal quality degradation. Fusion splicers are also an important part of the emergency stockpile. Fusion splicers connect fiber optic cables to splice boxes to ensure the reliability and stability of the connection. Strengthen the emergency supplies reserve to avoid safety accidents caused by fiber optic cable failures in unexpected situations.
4. Improve emergency communication capacity In emergency situations, it is very critical to strengthen communication security. In case of railroad cable failure, timely notification of relevant personnel and smooth communication are essential for effective emergency response. In order to achieve this goal, an emergency communication network must be established and equipped with satellite phones. The railroad system can consider establishing a comprehensive emergency communication network to solve the problem of communication disruption. The network can be composed of a variety of communication technologies, including wired and wireless communications. Wired communication can be carried out through railroad fiber optic cables, and wireless communication can be realized through mobile communication networks and satellite communication. In this way, even if the railroad fiber optic cable fails, it can still rely on other means of communication to keep in touch with the relevant personnel and ensure timely and smooth information transfer. On the basis of the establishment of the emergency communication network, it is also necessary to equip special equipment, such as satellite phones. Satellite phone is a device that can use satellite signals for communication, and can realize communication in areas not covered by base stations. When communication is interrupted by the failure of railroad cables or natural disasters such as earthquakes, satellite phones can be used as a back-up communication tool to meet the communication needs in emergency situations.