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Dallmeier safeguards train stations in South Africa

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, referred to as PRASA, is responsible for the carriage of several thousand passengers daily in South Africa. To enhance security for commuters a high-resolution video surveillance system by Dallmeier was installed.

On average, 80 cameras each – and considerably more at larger stations – currently keep an eye on things at 80 railway stations. PRASA decided in favour of vandal-resistant IP dome cameras that supply 720p HD and 1080p Full-HD resolution.

The video material is recorded on several DMX 2400, a video IP appliance with integrated storage system. The DMX 2400 excels in particular with its space-saving design and expanded storage capacity, accompanied by maximum data security.

The cameras monitor platforms, ticket counters and public areas such as entrances and exits as well as points of access to the platforms. In this way, violent crimes such as robberies at the ticket counter or shootings among gangs can be recorded with high resolution and the perpetrators can then be identified and prosecuted.

“The resolution of the old analogue CCTV system was simply not adequate to permit precise recognition of the offenders, and many crimes were never solved. This is why PRASA decided to modernise their equipment. Commuters should feel secure and enjoy going by train,” declares EP Smit, Dallmeier sales manager for South Africa.

Smooth rail transit

Problems caused by sabotage arise repeatedly not only at railway stations, but also on the tracks. Signal installations and points responsible for proper guidance of the trains are damaged and make it impossible for rail traffic to run smoothly. In order to put a stop to this vandalism track segments are also monitored by video. PRASA has decided in favour of Dallmeier here as well, with IR cameras that supply detailed images even at night due to the integrated infrared lighting.

But Mathew Smith, senior technical engineer at the local systems installer Siyangena is thrilled not only with the image quality: “I found the easy installation simply astonishing. The camera only has to be roughly aligned on-site; setting the focal distance and the focusing are taken care of easily over the network. The function Digital Image Shift was especially practical for us, as it allowed us to precisely adjust the captured image section needed via the Web browser.”

Central control

PRASA has divided the railway stations into four regions: Cape Town, Gauteng North, Gauteng South and Durban. Each one of these regions has a modern control room at its main railway station from which the security personnel can view every single camera in the region. This means that an average of over 1000 cameras converge in one control room!

To make operating the system as easy as possible for the security personnel, the management system SeMSy was installed. This system offers a comprehensive range of functions, including the display of live images, various search options within the footage, the control of PTZ cameras and an easy archiving of relevant sequences. Maps of the individual railway stations and routes have also been integrated into the interface so that any camera can be found quickly.

In addition, practical VMC-1 keyboards are available to the operators. Aside from the keyboard and interactive 6-inch monitor this equipment also includes a jog-shuttle and a joystick for simple navigation through live and recorded video material.

First investigative successes

Soon after installation of the new Dallmeier cameras the system had already proved its worth: Several armed robberies at ticket counters in Cape Town were recorded by the video system and the video material was handed over to the police. “The images on the surveillance cameras were so clear that the suspects could be positively identified,” says Mthuthuzeli Swartz, regional manager at PRASA Metrorail. Since the Dallmeier recording devices have LGC Forensics certification, the video material is also admissible as evidence in court.

Smith expects even more from the video system than only pursuit of offenders: “We hope that word will spread about the performance capacity of the video system and that in the future crimes will not only be solved but potential criminals will be deterred from committing their crimes to begin with.”

Plans for the future

For the future, more is being planned than merely equipping additional railway stations with Dallmeier technology: “Working together with PRASA, we are planning to create a central control hub in addition to the regional control centres, from which all cameras of all railway stations can be monitored from one single location,” says Smit.

And an additional project has been implemented: Not only does PRASA rely on video technology by Dallmeier in public-access areas of the commuter transit service. The switchyards and marshalling yards in which trains are washed, serviced and parked, have been equipped with Dallmeier technology. In addition to HD network cameras, the patented multifocal sensor system Panomera is also being used there.

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