Zhengzhou Metro AFC Automatic Fare Collection System Construction Project

1. Project Background

The subway AFC (Automatic Fare Collection) system automates ticket sales and fare collection, providing flexible payment methods and management tools. It also enables passenger flow analysis and revenue analysis, offering data-driven insights for operational decision-making. China is in a period of rapid urban rail transit development, with 31 cities operating subway systems, totaling over 4,500 kilometers in length and growing at approximately 20% annually. Using advanced automated subway systems to reduce labor intensity and acquire first-hand operational data for efficient urban transit management has become a focal point for system operators and regulatory authorities.

2. Key Concerns

Subway AFC systems in China have primarily relied on foreign database products, such as Oracle. Driven by information security, cost control, and the broader trend toward adopting domestic technology, Zhengzhou Metro is considering replacing its existing database with a Chinese-developed solution. The primary concern is whether a domestic database can match the stability, functionality, and performance of its foreign counterparts.

3. Project Requirements

To meet the demand for domestic alternatives, Zhengzhou Metro's AFC system has chosen to replace its original Oracle database with a Chinese database. Key requirements include:

Smooth migration from the existing Oracle applications to GBase 8s, achieving equivalent functionality and stability;

Business continuity with automatic, rapid failover within seconds, requiring no manual intervention;

Meeting performance and capacity needs for real-time ticket transaction processing and storage.

Migrate the database by replacing the original Oracle Pro*C code with GBase 8s ESQL/C, and replacing the PL/SQL code with GBase 8s stored procedures. Conduct regression and stress testing to verify that functionality and stability match the original Oracle database levels.

Build a shared-storage-based two-node cluster with GBase 8s to achieve high availability through OS-level HA software, capable of efficiently handling tables with hundreds of millions of rows. In the event of a failure, the system automatically switches nodes, ensuring stability, high availability, and business continuity.

GBase 8s was deployed across more than 20 stations on the Zhengzhou Metro Suburban Line, including Enping Lake, Shibalihe, and Xinzheng International Airport. Since its launch, the system has run stably with no production issues affecting business operations, maintaining overall smooth operation.

• Achieved domestic replacement of core software in the rail transit industry: GBase 8s embedded SQL and stored procedures can completely replace Oracle’s Pro*C and PL/SQL functionality, with stability meeting the business platform’s expectations. This successfully realized the domestic replacement of core software, adding a significant case and basis for core software domestic replacement in the rail transit industry;

• High Availability: Leveraged Sun server HA software and disk arrays to implement database high availability based on shared storage, meeting failover success rate and failover speed requirements, and achieving overall system high availability;

• Enriched integrated deployment technology architecture: After systematic testing and verification, this project features high replaceability, high stability, high availability, and high controllability. It can be promoted and used in various management and transaction applications, enriching baseline technical architecture implementation standards and providing greater flexibility to users and integrators.