London Midland Station – UK

Train operating company, London Midland, has held the West Midlands train franchise since 2007, provides transport for over 60 million passengers each year. It has invested in the latest generation of IP network video surveillance technology in order to maintain a safe environment for passengers and staff at fourteen of its stations.

In excess of 300 Hanwha branded WiseNetIII IP network, high definition cameras have been installed at the 14 stations by Babcock’s Rail business.

A combination of SNB-5004 box cameras, SNV-5084 domes and SNF-7010VM 360° cameras have been installed at each of the fourteen stations. Carefully located by Babcock International to ensure that there are no blind spots, they are collectively assisting security personnel and operations managers in their endeavors to ensure compliance with London Midland’s operational procedures, designed to ensure the safety of passengers and staff.

Depending on the number of cameras installed, one or more Hanwha SRN-1000 or SRN-1670D network video recorders (NVRs) have also been supplied for each station. Working together with SSM (Smart Security Manager) software, they enable operators to quickly retrieve and manage recorded video of any incidents.

Where necessary, the images captured by the cameras are being transmitted via wireless technology to the recording devices. At Watford station, for example, a wireless system has provided a cost-effective alternative to the commission of engineering works and the laying of cables that would have been necessary in order to transmit images captured by cameras located in the station’s car park over a distance of 800 meters to where the NVR is located.

“The knowledge we acquired as a Silver Partner of the Hanwha Vision Europe STEP partnership program enabled us to identify and recommend the WiseNetIII cameras that were most suitable to help the client meet its objectives at each of the stations,” said Anthony Sykes, Construction Engineering Manager for Babcock.

He also said that “In addition to helping create a safe environment, the new video surveillance systems installed at each of the stations are also assisting security personnel to detect anti-social behavior and other forms of criminal activity,” and “I am pleased to report that a number of successful prosecutions have taken place as a direct result of the availability of the evidence grade images captured by the WiseNetIII cameras.”

“In a competitive environment where the client is understandably looking for maximum value, the price/performance ratio of the cameras was an important issue. However, key to the decision to source the cameras from Hanwha Vision Europe, was the fact that all of the selected camera models have been PADS approved,” said Anthony Sykes, construction Engineering Manager for Babcock.

The issuing of the PADS Certificate of Acceptance for the WiseNetIII cameras follows a process during which the products were evaluated and comprehensively tested to ensure that they are reliable, fit for purpose and comply with Network Rail’s demanding standards in respect of safety.

“The SNF-7010VM 360° cameras have provided a cost-effective option for monitoring large areas such as ticket offices and waiting rooms where there might normally be a requirement for a large number of standard cameras,” said Anthony Sykes. “Equally significant, the Full HD capabilities of all the cameras has enabled us to install fewer of them than we might normally expect to, as they allow us to see close up detail of any activity without any pixilation occurring in the images.

“At stations such as Watford, this has been particularly useful in areas where there are overhead electric supply lines as we have been able to be selective in where we place the cameras in order to minimize risk for our maintenance engineers.”