Railway Infrastructure Digital-Intelligent Operation and Maintenance Team

1. Team Overview

The team consists of faculty and students from the university, along with ten highly influential industry experts. For over a decade, the team has been deeply engaged in the railway sector, systematically and thoroughly investigating fundamental theories and key technologies related to digital-intelligent operation and maintenance (O&M) of railway infrastructure and safety control of the surrounding environment. The research integrates theoretical approaches such as data science, reliability theory, and operations research optimization, as well as technical tools including computer programming, database systems, and big data analytics.Based on the team’s theoretical and technological breakthroughs, the software systems developed have been deployed across more than 250,000 extended kilometers of China’s railway network—accounting for over 96% of the nation’s total railway length—making significant contributions to the safety of China’s railway transportation system.

Core team members have received one National Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Class) and fourteen provincial/ministerial-level Science and Technology Progress Awards. Our research group consistently recruits PhD and master’s students. We warmly welcome motivated young scholars majoring in Transportation Planning and Management or Transportation Engineering who have a strong interest in data mining and analysis, system reliability, operations research optimization, and computer technologies to join us!

2. Team Member Profiles

The core team includes two university faculty members and five industry experts, comprising three professors, three associate professors, and one lecturer.

Peng Xu, Dr. Xu has served as principal investigator on two National Natural Science Foundation of China projects/programs, two major projects and three key projects from China State Railway Group, two systematic major project sub-tasks, and five projects funded by the National Railway Administration. He has also participated in five additional projects from China State Railway Group. He has published over 30 SCI/EI-indexed papers. His first-authored and corresponding-author paper received the IMechE T A Stewart-Dyer / F Trevithick Prize for Outstanding Paper from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (UK).His research resolved long-standing challenges in high-precision mileage positioning and accurate alignment of track dynamic inspection data. He established millimeter-level track deformation detection and early-warning technology and led the development of the “Track Deformation Analysis System Based on Dynamic Inspection Data,” which has been implemented on 164,000 extended kilometers of China’s railways. This system has been officially incorporated into China State Railway Group’s Maintenance Rules for High-Speed Railway Lines and Management Measures for Preventing Thermal Buckling of Ballastless Tracks on High-Speed Railways.Dr. Xu’s leading projects have earned two Second-Class Science and Technology Progress Awards from the China Railway Society and recognition as a key academic achievement in intelligent rail transit equipment in Beijing. His collaborative projects have received two additional science and technology awards from the Beijing Municipal Government and the China Transportation Association.

3. Research Achievements (Click to play video)

(1). Representative Publications

[1]Optimizing the Alignment of Inspection Data from Track Geometry Cars. Peng Xu*, Quanxin Sun, Rengkui Liu, Reginald R. Souleyrette, and Futian Wang. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, 2015:30(1),19-35

[2]Dynamic-Time-Warping-Based Measurement Data Alignment Model for Condition-Based Railroad Track Maintenance. Peng Xu*, Rengkui Liu, Quanxin Sun, and Li Jiang. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2015:16(2),799-812

[3]Key Equipment Identification model for correcting milepost errors of track geometry data from track inspection cars. Peng Xu*, Quanxin Sun, Rengkui Liu, and Futian Wang. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 2013: 35

[4]An Improved Multi-objective Framework for the Rich Arc Routing Problem. Long Chen, Peng Xu*, Reginald R.Souleyrette. Computers and Operations Research, 2023:159 106345

[5]Local-Ideal-Points based Autonomous Space Decomposition Framework for the Multi-objective Periodic Generalized Directed Rural Postman Problem under Length Restrictions with Intermediate Facilities. Long Chen, Peng Xu*, Xuedong Yan, Reginald R.Souleyrette, Teng(Alex) Wang. Computers & Operations Research, 2023:150: 106052

[6] Yang Yaqin, Xu Peng*, Li Ye, Sun Quanxin. A Robust Modeling Method for Track Irregularity under Complex Degradation Trends. Journal of Transportation Systems Engineering and Information Technology, 2020, 20(5): 156–162.(Recognized as a “Capital Frontier Academic Achievement” in 2023)

(2). Representative Projects:

[1] Major Project of China State Railway Group: Key Technologies for Monitoring and Early Warning of Safety Risks Along Railway Corridors (2023–2024)

[2] Key Project of China State Railway Group: Key Technologies for Early Warning of High-Speed Railway Track Deformation Based on Dynamic Inspection Data (2022–2023)

[3] Key Project of China State Railway Group: Research on Mapping Relationships Between Onboard Equipment Line Inspection Data and Track Geometry Data Based on Nonlinear Matching (2024–2026)

[4] Key Project of China State Railway Group: Degradation Patterns of Conventional Mainline Tracks and Key Technologies for Predictive Maintenance (2024–2026)

(3). Awards:

[1] Second-Class Science and Technology Award, China Railway Society – Track Deformation Analysis System Based on Dynamic Inspection Data (2022; Rank 1/19; Xu Peng)

[2] Second-Class Science and Technology Award, China Railway Society – Intelligent Processing and Analysis System for Dynamic Track Inspection Data (2019; Rank 2/11; Xu Peng)

[3] Second-Class National Science and Technology Progress Award – Integrated Technology Development and Application of Rails for Passenger Dedicated Lines (2009; Rank 8/10; Wu Xishui)

(4). Inventions and Software Copyrights:

[1] A Method for Predicting Track Deformation at Subgrade Frost Heave Locations on High-Speed Railways

Xu Peng, Wang Xiang, Yang Yaqin, Chen Long, Cao Yuxin

Patent No.: ZL202110249507.0

Publication No.: CN 112989591B

Granted: January 18, 2022

[2] An Automatic Identification Method for Historical Track Maintenance Based on the Bayesian Information Criterion

Yang Yaqin, Xu Peng, Yang Guotao, Chen Long, Cao Yuxin

Patent No.: ZL202110043468.9

Publication No.: CN112766556B

Granted: April 1, 2022

[3] Network Version of the Track Deformation Analysis System Based on Dynamic Inspection Data V1.0

Authors: Yang Yaqin, Xu Peng, Wu Xishui, Cao Yuxin

Registration No.: 2021SR8328055

Registered: November 1, 2021

4. Team Contact Information

Contact Person: Peng Xu

Email: peng.xu@bjtu.edu.cn