Sydney Trains has awarded its $A70 million 11,400-camera, 5-year CCTV upgrade contract to Spanish multinational, Indra. The unified video management solution will be Genetec’s Security Center, supplied by Hills. More than 30 companies bid for the contract, which is thought to be Australia’s largest integrated surveillance solution.
Geographically, this rail system is vast and has components on the Far North Coast, the Mid North Coast, New England, the Central Coast, the Hunter Valley, Cumberland/Prospect, Nepean, Northern Sydney, the Inner West, South East Sydney, South West Sydney, the Central West, Orana/Far West, the Riverina/Murray, Illawarra, and the Southern Highlands.
The video management system handling the entire system will be Genetec’s unified platform, Genetec Security Center, which will integrate analytics, cameras, help points and more. To handle particular operational complexities, Indra will also implement its intelligent video technology in 2 control centres from which the entire video surveillance system, comprising 11,400 CCTV cameras, will be managed.
Indra will replace all existing analogue cameras with IP cameras, which will connect to the existing network of trunk communications through a new network to be deployed across the rail network’s 150 stations, as well as on buses, light rail, and ferries. It will also provide servers and storage equipment in which the images are recorded.
Genetec Security Center incorporates all the advantages of IP technology – for instance, when connecting a camera directly to the computer networks of Sydney Trains, any user station may be used as a control console, from which display images of any camera in real time and retrieve the recorded video.
Authorised mobile devices connected to the network may also access the video via Security Center. This means that any authorised tablet or mobile phone becomes a mobile console from which security teams can view images, increasing operational effectiveness.
IVA software that Indra will implement throughout the project incorporates algorithms to continually analyze image streams from the stations to automatically detect situations which pose a potential risk, such as a passenger falling onto tracks, or the entry of unauthorized personnel into tunnels. The system also generates alarms automatically in such situations, allowing operators and patrols to take immediate action, reducing response times.
Because Genetec Security Center is an IP-based video platform which incorporates new and enhanced functionality, the solution implemented by Indra can be readily expanded, something currently impossible due to constraints inherent in analogue CCTV technology. At the same time, use of megapixel cameras will significantly improve the quality of video streams.
A decision on which IP cameras will be implemented is expected shortly and it’s understood a related security patrol tender for the entire Sydney Trains network closed last Friday, with an announcement on this significant manpower contract expected within 4 weeks. ♦
