Public Transport

Public transport: With video costs reduce and security increases

There is just one sensible and, at the same time, cost effective way of fighting the rampant vandalism in busses, trains and trams. Video monitoring vehicles. It robs the scratchers, rowdies and sprayers of their protective anonymity. Besides this CCTV monitoring aids the resolution of violent crime and helps deter anti-social behaviour. This leads to an increase in the perception of security for passengers and staff.

Monitoring in busses

Individual busses are usually monitored using a SilverLine digital recorder which records the video pictures from up to eight cameras installed in the vehicle, and puts out live pictures directly to a driver’s monitor. For large fleets of buses in towns and cities other systems are recommended which not only record locally, but are also linked to the control room via a secure internet data tunnel. The control room therefore has access to live pictures from all vehicles. The facility for remote control, analysis and maintenance of the remote terminals is an additional help in reducing the transport company’s operating costs.

Surveillance on trams and trains

The monitoring of trams, underground and local rail connections follows similar principles. The cameras are usually distributed between two carriages. This means that the system components have to be wired together across the carriage couplings. The installation of analogue systems requires a complex wiring. Each CCTV camera requires seperate cables for video signal and power supply. A network solution based on TCP/IP system reduces that complexity because only one Ethernet bus is required. Using power over ethernet technology (PoE)  power supply is realized via the same ethernet cable used for video signals.

Nowadays though rail vehicles are increasingly equipped with network cabling. This provides the basic infrastructure for IP-based monitoring systems with high resolution IP cameras, which, bring big quality advantages compared to traditional analogue technology. Besides transmitting video and audio data, the Ethernet can at the same time be used to provide the power required.

DResearch has developed special (SilverLine) hybrid recorders which combine the virtues of both digital and analogue video systems to meet clients’ various requirements. More information can be found in section "Products".