PRASA CEO Hishaam Emeran demonstrates the perimeter security system. (Photo provided by Huawei)
View of PRASA's Cape Town depot (Photo provided by Huawei)
At dawn, a red alert lights up and an alarm buzzes in the perimeter monitoring system at the Braamfontein train operation center in Johannesburg, South Africa. The screen shows a clear image: In a remote section alongside the tracks, two suspicious individuals carrying tools are approaching the railway, possibly attempting theft. The operator immediately accesses detailed footage and coordinates, and then initiates emergency response procedures.
Thanks to the swift action of the security team, the "intelligent perimeter protection system" deployed by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) successfully thwarted yet another security incident along the railway.
AI-Powered Optical-Visual Linkage Platform Fortifying Railway Security
During its prime, South Africa's century-old railway network once handled nearly 80% of the nation's passenger traffic and over 30% of its mineral freight. Today, with more than 38,000 kilometers of active rail lines, it remains one of Africa's most extensive networks. However, it also faces challenges such as aging infrastructure, outdated equipment, and frequent incidents of illegal encroachment and theft along the railways.
Traditional methods like manual patrols are increasingly inadequate in managing modern railway security risks. Meanwhile, conventional perimeter technologies like vibration cables and microwave sensors come with various limitations. Different systems often operate in isolation, leading to inefficient alarm verification processes and high maintenance costs.
In late 2022, PRASA began deploying Huawei's innovative AI-powered optical-visual linkage platform to address these challenges. By integrating optical fiber vibration sensing, video-based AI recognition and machine vision technologies, the platform establishes a smart architecture that includes an optical-visual linkage system and an overarching integrated management interface with map displays. This platform enables a fully automated security detection and operational closed-loop process, covering everything from sensing, identification and alarming to response.
The optical fiber sensors require no electrical grid connection and can cover up to 20 kilometers per unit, with a detection accuracy of under 2 meters. Combined with AI-driven recognition and large-model support, the platform can accurately identify abnormal vibrations and behaviors, adapt quickly to varied scenarios, and maintain high recognition performance under all-weather and complex conditions.
Since the platform's deployment, security incidents along the railways have dropped by 80% and manual inspection efficiency has improved by 50%, significantly enhancing both safety and cost-effectiveness. PRASA plans to expand the system for underground cable protection across all railways and further boost reliability through dual verification using optical and video inputs.
PRASA CEO Hishaam Emeran noted that, as the first application of the platform in railways, the agency is proud to readily embrace innovative technologies and Huawei's intelligent perimeter solution has proven effective in resolving real-world security challenges.
AI Large Model Enhancing Railways' Operation and Maintenance Efficiency
At the Braamfontein train maintenance depot, engineers once had to comb through piles of paper manuals, protocols and diagnostics just to troubleshoot a small part or resolve a complex issue, often spending hours without results. Today, they simply ask an AI assistant, which instantly provides underlying principles, step-by-step procedures, root cause analysis, solutions, and similar case references, greatly boosting efficiency.
This transformation comes from the AI knowledge intelligence project jointly developed by PRASA and Huawei, a smart app powered by DeepSeek. Designed to address inefficiencies caused by fragmented internal knowledge and data silos across systems, this was the first project in the region to adopt DeepSeek on Huawei Cloud. The AI-driven project restructures the knowledge management system by integrating policy documents, reports and other materials into a unified knowledge base realizing intelligent management. It builds a professional documentation knowledge base for customer service and product operation and maintenance scenarios, thereby supporting assisted maintenance guidance, intelligent matching of malfunction cases, and employee knowledge and skills Q&A, among other features.
Diagram of PRASA's perimeter protection solution (Photo provided by Huawei)
The localization of the AI large model has significantly boosted knowledge management efficiency across South Africa's railway system, with information retrieval speed increasing by over 90%, and employees saving an average of 1.5 hours daily in inefficient searches. Plans are in place to expand this system to customer service and broader operation and maintenance scenarios, with high-frequency issues to be handled by AI automatically and operational costs to be cut by at least 30%.
With support from Huawei's big data and AI technologies, PRASA is building a three-layer capability system comprising a digital hub platform, a smart operation center and a smart mobility ecosystem. The digital hub serves as a unified data foundation that supports intelligent operation management internally and powers smart mobility services externally, enabling a comprehensive smart upgrading of railways from data to operations, and from management to services.
The smart operation center deeply integrates core data from train dispatching, ticketing, security monitoring and emergency response systems to drive intelligent operation management. In ticketing, for instance, the system uses internal and external data along with AI models to analyze passenger preferences and flow patterns, forecast peak lines, and dynamically adjust pricing strategies. For emergency response, it enables multichannel incident recognition and resource deployment with path simulations within five minutes.
South African Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy said PRASA's collaboration with Huawei based on AI is having a profound impact on the country's safe railway operations. In its strategic outlook released in early 2025, PRASA's board emphasized that its AI-driven smart transformation is not only a technological upgrade but also a model for capability migration and sustainable development, setting a benchmark for smart rail development across Africa.
From smart trackside security to maintenance depots and dispatch centers, AI is quietly reshaping South Africa's transportation landscape. PRASA and Huawei will continue deepening their collaboration to develop the smart operation center and accelerate the shift of the AI-enabled transportation model from isolated breakthroughs to regional coordinated development, thus jointly advancing toward a sustainable, intelligent future for global transportation. (By Li Zhuoqun)
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