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Rail security Steve Green
The answer is unification Steve Green, Regional Manager UK at Genetec explores unification and how can it help rail operators who are already faced with numerous challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic
T
he rail industry in the UK is ripe for revitalisation. That’s because many rail operators are learning how old, siloed ways of working have held them back for too long, particularly in the physical security realm. Technologies such as video surveillance, access control and intruder prevention have typically been deployed on a standalone basis according to a specific organisation or even department’s immediate needs. Because of this, stations, service facilities, operation headquarters – and vehicles – now find themselves with a range of different, disconnected physical security products that fail to present a single picture of what is happening on the network. Now, as older security technologies are becoming obsolete, there’s an opportunity to re-strategize. The focus is now shifting towards increased collaboration and how to best deploy and manage physical security across the entire rail ecosystem. And there is a new conversation starting to emerge – one that centres around unification. Unification Unification is a buzzword you hear more and more often in the security industry and means something beyond integration. In this case, a unified physical security platform is a comprehensive software solution that manages the different components of a security environment through a centralised open architecture built to provide complete access to all data. A unified platform goes above and beyond tagging or bookmarking video when an access control event occurs or offering the capability to unlock an accesscontrolled door from within the video surveillance user interface. It’s a platform that combines information from all available sensors to provide greater awareness to operators. This not only means showing video feeds when alerts are triggered by the access control system, but also being able to see data from all related sensors in a single click, from anywhere in the system. Unification for actionable insights Rail operators have a vested interest in increasing the number of sensors they use, to get as much data as possible about their facilities and vehicles. But this is only effective if the data can then be made meaningful and turned into useful information. This is where unification comes into play, as it allows all the data collected to be visualised in one place, regardless of the combination of sensors from which it originates. Thus, public transport companies can gain a single version of the truth and have a real overview of the network in real time. This can enable operators to make more intelligent business decisions and ultimately enhance passenger safety and satisfaction. It can enable operators to monitor the number of passengers on board or within a station to deduce real and projected occupancy rates and follow train journeys to communicate precise arrival/ departure times.
A unified system is not limited to GPS or video analytics data either. It can go far beyond that, including video surveillance, access control, automatic license plate reading, telematics, communications, etc., allowing not only for better user information, but also for improved quality, efficiency, and safety of operations. Unification to improve internal and external collaboration Rail operations have traditionally been heavily siloed making collaboration between different department and functions difficult. The outcome? Disjointed communication, slower processes, and overstretched budgets. That is why organisations are turning to a unified approach. Pooling budgets, requirements and expertise avoids unnecessary overlap and allows for the provision of a more comprehensive system than each department could hope to procure on their own. Moreover, such an approach simplifies the secure sharing of realtime information with validated third parties: i.e. law enforcement Rail Professional
