Tr a n s p o r t | CCTVIma g e Rail CCTV under the lens
A two-day conference in London addressed the specialist issue of CCTV surveillance in the rail- way environment. CCTV Image went along to talk to some of the specialists who were attending the event which was organised by transportation and security consultants BWCS.
WITH BILLIONS of passengers using public trans- port around the world every day, security has never been more critical. Terrorist attacks, violence, rob- bery and even health and safety issues can all be mitigated with the use of CCTV. That was the message of BWCS’s Rail CCTV Conference 2012 held in London in November. According to BWCS, “Collaboration amongst the various parties involved is vital to get the best out of new and legacy CCTV systems in this dynamic industry.” Thomas Kritzer, a delegate and speaker at the conference, is deputy head of operations for the Vienna Metro and chairman of the International Association of Public Transport’s Security Commission. Kritzer observed in his presentation that security
and CCTV in particular was becoming increasingly normalised in the transportation sector over the past decade. In the Vienna Metro, CCTV was introduced originally to help with the despatching of trains, as an aid to health and safety. Over the years it has grown to encompass secu-
Volkstheater U-Bahn-station in Vienna
rity. However, he said that the transport industry must be aware that while CCTV is an invaluable tool, it only works if backed up by operators who can evaluate information. It’s also essential that it be integrated into the infrastructure of the transportation system and that there are comprehensive procedures to be followed by security staff to ensure security information is properly evaluated and action taken if necessary. What does the future hold for CCTV in the railway environment? “I think there are actually a lot of developments in detection analysis software, so let’s say a second or third generation of CCTV use,” he said. “Also with a lot easier technology, with a lot of IP and technical solutions – I think this will continue. The operators will have a lot more support from the technical devices supporting them in alarm triggers, detection and so on, but still, as mentioned, the procedures and humans and technology have to work together to get the best possible result out of that.”
Looking to help him achieve that bright vision of the future
were several exhibitors present at the conference including Axis Communications. David Thomason, a business development manager at Axis, said that transport was one of two key sectors which the company is actively focusing on. They see continued opportunities to encourage the rail industry to upgrade from analogue CCTV to network video. “Benefits to the transport sector are high resolution images in real
time that can be accessed from all the right places simultaneously, and that includes remotely,” he said. “Responding resources like police and emergency services can access live video right up until they arrive at the scene so they have up to date information en route to the incident.” He felt that the conference was useful for both delegates and exhibi-
tors. “Axis really values and supports conferences such as this one by BWCS because it really gives us the opportunity to listen to end users so we can really appreciate their requirements and the challenges that they face which helps us in research and development for future products.” Mark Marriage from Digital Barriers (formerly COE) presented a case study to the conference on Queensland Rail in Australia. Covering 208 trains on a network stretching 400km from
the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast, the aim of the project is to provide each train with Internet Wi-Fi access and also be able to transmit live video data back to the security control room. He explained that it comprised an IP overlay on an exist-
ing analogue infrastructure, which meant that the railway could retain their existing cameras. The project was only given the green light after a two-
year trial in which a number of different codecs and trans- mission methods were tried. They eventually settled on using the existing 3G infrastructure, with various parts of the network covered by three suppliers. “The clever bit was that not only could we get live video
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Picture: Manfred Werner
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