Dallmeier Safeguards Train Stations in South Africa

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, known as Prasa, is responsible for the transport of several thousand passengers daily in RSA. A high-resolution video surveillance system consisting of over 6,400 HD cameras was installed by Dallmeier to enhance security for commuters at 80 railway stations in South Africa.
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 in high resolution and the perpetrators can then be identified and prosecuted. "The resolution of the old analog 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 modernize their equipment. Commuters should feel secure and enjoy going by train," stated EP Smit, Dallmeier Sales Manager for South Africa. And the course of incidents such as accidents at railway stations can also be clarified positively with the new video system.

On average, 80 cameras each - and considerably more at larger stations - currently keep an eye on things at 80 railway stations. Prasa decided to adopt vandal-resistant IP dome cameras that supply 720p HD and 1080p Full-HD resolution. The dome cameras are supplemented by several PTZ cameras with factor 20 optical zoom. The video material is recorded on several DMX 2400 machines, a video IP appliance with integrated storage. This compact device has significant storage capacity and provides maximum data security.

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. Infra-red cameras are installed that supply detailed images even at night, thanks 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 Digital Image Shift function was especially practical for us as it allowed us to precisely select the section of the captured image that we 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 nonetheless as easy as possible for the security personnel, the Semsy management system was installed. This system provides a comprehensive range of functions such as the display of live images, various search options within the footage, the control of PTZ cameras and the easy archiving of relevant sequences. Maps of the individual railway stations and routes have also been integrated into the interface so that the right camera can be found quickly at any time.

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

First Investigative Success
The system already proved its worth soon after installation of the new cameras: 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, afterwards to the Cape Times newspaper. Since the Dallmeier recording devices have LGC Forensics certification, the video material is also admissible as evidence before the court.

Mathew Smith expects even more: "We hope that word will spread about the performance capability 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
EP Smit is personally on site on a regular basis and he is satisfied with the way things are going. 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 centers, from which all cameras of all railway stations can be monitored from one single location," according to EP Smit.

Not only does Prasa rely on Dallmeier video technology in public-access areas of the commuter transit service. The switch-yards and marshaling yards in which trains are washed, serviced and parked have also been equipped with Dallmeier technology. In addition to HD network cameras, the patented Panomera multifocal sensor system is also being used there.