LED Lighting Application in Long Railway Tunnels

Abstract

Hong Kong is expanding its railway network to fulfill the needs of housing, transportation and economic development in strategic growth areas and meet cross-boundary passenger demands. Hong Kong’s unique high density urban development pattern prohibits overground railways. This implies longer tunnels are required to connect those areas. Long railway tunnel brings a challenge to the design and the electrical and mechanical systems installed. Lighting is one of the crucial safety systems equipped in the railway tunnel and with the modern emphasis in environmental protection, a more energy conservative and cost-effective design approach is needed. LED is a new form of green light source which is becoming more and more popular in recent urban road lighting and commercial and household application. However, its application to railway tunnel is still rare. The paper reviews the LED lighting technology and stresses on its application to address the long tunnel lighting design requirements and special railway tunnel environment. Significant cost saving as well as benefit in maintenance would be resulted with the LED lighting design. The paper concludes that the LED trackside tunnel emergency lighting design is superior to the traditional florescent or incandescent lights.

Keywords:

• LED Lighting
• Tunnel Lighting
• Maintenance
• Long Tunnel Environment
• Energy Saving