CRIME PREVENTION
Preventing and tackling crime on the railways needs lots of manpower, effi cient processes, some good luck – and a helping hand from technology. RTM speaks to Network Rail’s Peter Farnsworth and Alison Clarke to fi nd out how the company evaluates and procures crime-fi ghting technology.
N
etwork Rail is one of the country’s biggest procurers of private sector expertise and technology solutions, and unsurprisingly often fi nds itself approached by companies who have something to sell.
Every so often, those companies do come up with interesting and innovative ideas with real potential to improve the country’s rail- ways, which can augment the research done by Network Rail itself.
RTM asked Network Rail’s senior technol- ogy engineer for cables & immunisation, Peter Farnsworth, and programme manag- er Alison Clarke, to explain its approach to evaluating technology and products in one particularly vital area: crime prevention.
Farnsworth said: “We evaluate in a num- ber of areas, the fi rst of which is value for money, because obviously we need to make sure that we’re getting value for money with the options that we’re choosing. Secondly – compatibility with the railway environ- ment; that’s very important from a health and safety point of view and an operational point of view as well.
“We have a preference for developed prod- ucts, rather than new concepts, because we’re not really in the game of developing products to our own requirements.
“That takes time and at the end of the day you fi nish up with a bespoke product and you’re vulnerable to a certain amount of pricing fl uctuation. Where appropriate, we do certainly collaborate with British Trans- port Police and other bodies.”
46 | rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 11
Clarke added: “We also have the Cable Theft Steering Group, which is sat on by the British Transport Police and ATOC and BT, so we do have a good element of sharing the best practice and evaluation of various dif- ferent technologies.”
The wisdom of crowds
Farnsworth said: “We have various input streams – the general public comes to us as a result of the innovations page on our website, for example.” (see below for link)
Using that portal, suppliers, inventors, and entrepreneurs are able to ensure their bright ideas get a good airing – including technological crime prevention solutions. It’s an idea that Network Rail wants to de- velop as much as possible.
Clarke explained: “Obviously we’re look- ing for technology that meets our require- ments, rather than somebody just trying to sell us a product they’ve developed. We’d like them to explain how it would solve our problems rather than just push it on us.”
Network Rail also works closely with profes- sional bodies like the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and the Knowledge Transfer Networks. It also draws on the con- siderable expertise of its own staff – includ- ing those not directly involved in dealing with crime prevention – and shares good ideas in one region or on one route around the entire organisation.
There is also collaboration with other groups affected by particular crimes – like
utility companies, in the case of cable theft – and with other railway administrations.
The next big thing
But with all the technology and products out there, how does Network Rail sort the valuable from the eccentric? And does it evaluate each solution on its individual merits and value-for-money, or is there a set budget each year?
“A little of both,” said Clarke. “We do have some money set aside, but obviously the key criteria is whether something demonstrates good value for money: if it does, then it’s something we’d consider. At the end of the day, we’re paying out for the cost of replac- ing cable, for example, in the cost of train delays for train operating companies, so if something has a good business case then we’ll look to use it, so we will try to fund it. There’s no defi nitive ‘we can only spend x amount each year’. It’s fl uid.”
New technologies are arriving all the time, and some recent examples are starting to have an impact for Network Rail – espe- cially in the fi ght against the crime type that causes the most disruption and complica- tion: cable theft.
Farnsworth said: “We look at it in terms of the areas of prevention, detection and ap- prehension and we look at technologies that will help in each of those areas. One of the recent innovations we’ve brought in is what we call cable locking, which is a physical de- terrent actually using stainless steel bands to lock the cables to the concrete troughing.
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