Kunming Railway Group Debris Flow Early Warning and Monitoring Project

Project Background

The Kunming Railway Bureau’s Guangtong Track Maintenance Section oversees railway lines that traverse the mountainous Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, where geological conditions are complex and debris-flow disasters occur frequently. Along the Dali–Ruili Railway, the Dali–Lincang Railway, and the Yunnan–Tibet Railway, gullies are well developed, and heavy rainfall during the flood season easily triggers debris flows, posing a serious threat to railway operational safety. Traditional manual inspections cannot achieve real-time monitoring of debris flows in remote gullies, making it urgently necessary to deploy automated monitoring and early-warning equipment. Guilin Spepc Technology, relying on… Integrated Debris Flow Monitoring Technology and Multi-Network Converged Communication Solution , undertook the deployment of monitoring equipment at the debris-flow hazard site along this section.

Monitoring equipment

Based on the topographic conditions and risk levels of the debris-flow gullies along each route, Spepc Technology has deployed SPEPC debris flow monitoring and alarm device A total of 7 sets, with the following distribution:

• Dali–Ruili Railway : Two sets, deployed upstream of high-risk debris-flow channels.

• Dali–Linxi Railway : 4 sets, covering multiple historical debris-flow sites along the route.

• Yunnan–Tibet Railway : 1 set, deployed in critical sections.

Each debris-flow monitoring and alarm system integrates multiple sensors to enable comprehensive multi-parameter sensing:

• Mud level monitoring : Employ a cable‑pull type or radar water level gauge to monitor real-time changes in the channel’s mud‑water level and determine whether a debris flow has been triggered.

• Vibration/Angle-of-Inclination Monitoring : Built-in MEMS acceleration and tilt sensors capture the vibration signatures and structural displacements associated with debris flow passage.

• Rainfall Monitoring (Partial locations): Equipped with integrated tipping-bucket rain gauges to monitor rainfall intensity and cumulative rainfall, supporting the analysis and decision-making of debris-flow early-warning models.

• Image and video acquisition : Supports trigger-based snapshot capture and video transmission, providing intuitive evidence for remote verification.

The equipment adopts Solar power plus battery storage供电 、 4G/Beidou dual-mode communication , adapted to remote environments without electricity or public network coverage. Monitoring data is transmitted in real time. SPEPC Geological Disaster Monitoring and Early Warning Cloud Platform The platform supports multi-level threshold settings (e.g., mud level, rainfall intensity, vibration), and automatically sends warning SMS messages and pop-up alerts to engineering management personnel when thresholds are exceeded.

Implementation Effectiveness

Following its commissioning, the system has enabled all‑weather, automated monitoring of debris‑flow channels along the Dali–Ruili, Dali–Lincang, and Yunnan–Tibet railways. Monitoring data are reliably transmitted in real time, allowing management personnel to remotely access up-to-the-minute water levels, rainfall amounts, and equipment status at each potential hazard site via the platform. When monitored values exceed preset thresholds, the system automatically issues early warnings, providing decision‑making support for track‑maintenance teams to promptly implement measures such as speed restrictions, line closures, or evacuations. This project effectively addresses the spatiotemporal gaps inherent in manual inspections, enhances the Guangtong Track‑Electrification Section’s capacity for proactive prevention and control of debris‑flow hazards, and delivers robust technical assurance for flood‑control safety on mountainous railway lines.