metro networks Underground in Brussels With the Astrid system, inspectors, prevention
teams and intervention teams each have their own talk groups and. If necessary, the dispatcher at the dispatching work station can put diff erent teams into contact with one another. “On the annual car-free Sundays we’ve
noticed that communication with the people in the stations goes a lot better than it did earlier”, observed Pierre Verstraeten. “T anks to Astrid, a whole group of new employees can communicate, and that’s good news both for them and for the travellers.” In the future, the MIVB also wants to be
On a platform somewhere beneath Brussels are (left to right) Marc Van den Eede, Daniel Bernard and Pierre Verstraeten – all of MIVB, the Belgian capital’s transport operator
E
very day, half a million travellers use the Brussels Metro, and the employees of the city’s transport operator MIVB do
everything they can to ensure that their travel is as safe and enjoyable as possible – with the help of their TETRA radios In the Metro control room, nestled 18 metres
below the streets of Brussels, a dozen employees monitor the entire network, closely following the position of Metro trains on the big board. Images are constantly fed in from 1500 cameras in the corridors and on the platforms of the system’s 69 stations, and the functioning of escalators, lifts and other installations is watched from here to. Dispatchers in the control room communicate
with the Metro drivers and station personnel via Astrid, the national TETRA-based radio network for Belgium’s public safety bodies. T ey use their radios both for day-to-day operations and for dealing with unexpected events – such as delays, a sudden fl ood of passengers in a station, or other incidents. In addition, the MIVB deploys over 300
security agents in the Metro and on buses and trams. T ese are the inspectors who check travellers’ tickets, the prevention and security teams whose job is to increase the public’s sense of security, and the intervention teams who step in whenever there are problems. All of them are directed from the control room of the Security and Control business unit. And then there are the silent emergency calls
made by drivers. When one of these is received, the control room immediately sends the nearest service vehicle to the site.
Increased interaction For many years the MIVB operated its own radio network for the Metro and the security services. But when the circular line of the Brussels Metro was completed in 2009, the new way of working gave rise to new communication needs.
Issue 2 February - April 2011 TE TRA TODAY “We had only two channels on our analogue
radio network”, explained Pierre Verstraeten, IT systems manager in the Metro business unit. “Once the circular line was fi nished, however, more interaction was necessary between the units, and more people had to be able to have a radio. “Earlier, the Metro drivers did have one, but
our people in the stations had to make do with their mobile phones and the PA system. T at situation was no longer tenable. Particularly during events, when the whole platform was full and everyone wanted to make a call with their mobile phone, we couldn’t rely on the mobile phone connection.” Astrid has been available in Metro stations
and tunnels since 2005, when it was installed for use by the emergency services and the police. Coverage is provided via 16 underground base stations, 23 repeaters, dozens of indoor antennas and many kilometres of radiating cable running through the tunnels. “T e process of installing all this equipment always took place smoothly, thanks to excellent consultation with us”, commented Marc Van den Eede, technical support for radio communications in the infrastructure business unit. “T is earlier collaboration had already given us confi dence in the Astrid system.”
Talk groups: a plus T e Metro switched over to Astrid in phases, beginning on April 1, 2009. Several months later, the roll-out extended to Security and Control. “Over the years we had already participated in
disaster exercises and tests”, said Daniel Bernard, studies and projects manager in the Security and Control business unit. “So we knew the added value off ered by Astrid, such as the possibility to use several talk groups. With our previous radio system the control room could only communicate from radio to radio, so it couldn’t share information with a whole team.”
able to operate joint talk groups with the police and the emergency services. Already it collaborates daily with the Metro brigade of the federal police, and is also involved in emergency planning. “Multidisciplinary communication was one of the reasons for choosing Astrid”, said Daniel Bernard. “Hopefully it will also quickly become a reality in the fi eld.”
F
or its radio terminals, MIVB opted for the handportable THR880i and
the fi xed TMR880, both from EADS. Currently its radio fl eet consists of: 257 handheld terminals in the Metro business unit;
100 handheld terminals in the Security and Control unit;
20 handheld terminals in the Infrastructure unit;
15 fi xed radios in the control rooms; three dispatching workstations in the control rooms.
Since maintenance tasks and other
works must be performed at night, the control rooms operate 24 hours a day. “Therefore it is also important for us that, in the event of problems, we can reach our radio communications supplier day and night”,said Pierre Verstraeten. “And with Astrid that’s defi nitely the case.”
On the Brussels metro, a train driver makes a call on his handportable radio
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