Modern CCTV: Back on the Rails

A lot has happened as a result of the Fifa football world cup in South Africa. But the country at the southernmost point of the black continent is still plagued by a high rate of crime, above all in the large cities and their suburbs. It is unfortunately impossible to exclude the possibility that one will be the victim of a robbery, theft or violence. But a few things have actually been done to improve safety for all - for example in Durban, where a CCTV system from Sony has been doing stalwart service for some time now. GIT SECURITY had the opportunity to interview the planners and installers of the project, the security officers in charge for the system's maintenance, and the Head of Security of Metro Durban Rail exclusively for our readers and to look more closely at all the security measures of this urban transport service provider.

Durban - or in Zulu language: eThekwini - is the largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa, forming part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous as the busiest port in South Africa and is also a major center of tourism because of the city‘s warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches.

Blossoming City and World Cup Venue
The city has a population of about 3.5 million, making Durban the biggest city on the east coast of the African continent. Today, Durban is also the busiest container port in Africa, and a popular tourist destination. The city is also a gateway to the national parks and historic sites of Zululand and the Drakensberg. Good news: there has also been growth in the number of jobs provided by the Durban Metropolitan Area (DMA) formal sector over the past 20 years. High rates of crime had become a disincentive to even more growth in tourism and many other sectors but, directly as a result of the Fifa World Cup, Durban has made significant investments in security and specifically for the public rail transport system.

Reducing Crime
Of course the local rail transport operators wanted to do something to improve security. "Metrorail" operates the rail service in Durban and the surrounding area and its network runs from Durban Station outwards as far as Stanger on the north coast, Kelso on the south coast, and Cato Ridge inland. GIT SECURITY was given the opportunity to study the CCTV system more closely and it really is a first-class system that helps to significantly lower the crime rate at an important trouble spot.

The most important aspects first: the individual railway stations have been networked, events can now be centrally managed and corresponding security measures organized quickly. To achieve this, 101 cameras have been installed and a further 130 will follow. Kiren Govender´s company KgT Enterprises is a integrated, turnkey solution provider for access control, intrusion detection, fire detection, CCTV and digital recording. As overall planner for all local security measures, he has already done a lot of work and, together with the Metro operators, has ensures that really all areas are well monitored and secure. "We love the pictures of those cameras", was Kiren´s statement, as we took a walk together through the Metro passages and inspected the systems that have been installed on the platforms. "They show us all the right details in all situations; we can react at once and thereby provide much better security", adds Durban Rail´s security consulter Desan Govender. Anyway, before installation of the new cameras there were always thefts happening, and that even included a lot of property of the railway system itself. They didn't even stop at removing parts of the rails. "After installing the cameras, the rate of criminal events sank by a massive 45%", explains Ivan Chami, the local Area Security Commander at Metro Durban Rail.

Monty Makhalima is responsible for the Metro Durban Rail Maintenance. He is also visibly satisfied with the equipment that the system integrator has made available to him. The maintenance effort required is low; the Sony cams function without problems. "At the end of the day, we had to find a solution together with our planners and the installer that fitted into our financial budget, but simultaneously delivered good quality", explained the Security Commander Chami. Desan the planned added: "Whereby we also learned that video security is more than just having more mega pixels - it is: good quality. And one can see that in every single camera, in the pictures and the information on the monitor."

Systems in Use
As well as other security tools that provide fire protection and security, the planners also installed and set up the following CCTV products from Sony:
The Sony SNC-CH140 HD is a fixed network camera and it delivers excellent picture quality at HD resolution (1280x720, 30 fps) in 16:9 aspect ratio. This level of clarity combined with state-of-the-art image processing make the CH140 one of the most effective CCTV cameras on the market. The capability makes it an obvious choice for mission critical CCTV applications including airport, border and traffic surveillance like this at Metro Durban Rail.
"Of course it is important that the systems can be easily installed and operated. That is the case with these Sony cams", says Monty Makhalima. And it's true: installation of the CH140 is quick and easy, thanks to the Easy Focus function which automatically adjusts to the native surroundings. PoE (Power over Ethernet) capability and support for multiple codecs provide ultimate flexibility for system design, integration and installation. The 71 SNC-CH140 units installed at Metro Durban Rail also feature ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) compliance for easy interoperability with IP monitoring products from a variety of manufacturers.

The network mini-dome camera SNC-DF50P is a powerful yet compact network camera and it supports an efficient and intelligent processing method called intelligent video analytics. "Exactly what we need", says Desan Govender. The 26 units installed in Durban automatically determine when an image should be recorded or an alarm should be triggered. Coupled with this intelligence, the camera delivers a dramatic improvement in dynamic range (128 times that of a conventional camera) thanks to Sony-unique DynaView technology. This makes the camera ideal in extremely high-contrast environments. Designed for indoor use, its clever design saves time and effort at installation, and gives true location flexibility.
Also the SNC-DH140 HD mini-dome network camera delivers excellent picture quality at HD resolution (1,280 x 720, 30 fps) in 16:9 aspect ratio. Like the SNC-CH140, also this camera is a good choice for mission critical CCTV applications. The 2 DH140 Metro cameras also have an Easy Zoom function to adjust the focus relative to the zoom ratio. Moreover this mini-dome also features ONVIF compliance for easy interoperability.
The two high-performance SNC-RX570 network cameras with 360 degree endless rotation are the flagship network cameras at Metro Durban and they come with several advanced features. For example, they are particularly suited for use in high-contrast environments thanks to Sony's DynaView technology, which helps to reproduce clear and accurate images no matter what the lighting conditions. Naturally the very different light conditions occurring on a platform have to be considered. They also feature a new digital signal processing unit for enhanced picture quality and has an amazing 36x optical zoom, providing a maximum 432x zoom when combined with the 12x digital zoom. All SNC-RX Series Network Dome Cameras feature built-in intelligent object detection and intelligent motion detection. They can also freely and endlessly rotate 360 degrees, allowing users to monitor the area surrounding the camera without interruption. Advanced image processing technology offers a choice of three compression formats - JPEG, MPEG-4, and H.264 - so that users can choose the appropriate format to match their network environment and monitoring applications. A newly-developed "dual encoding capability" also allows simultaneous streaming in JPEG and MPEG-4, further improving workflow flexibility. Designed for 24/7 operation, the RX Series incorporates a Day/Night function, providing clear images even in 0.15 lx lighting conditions. The SNC-RX series is the right choice for a wide variety of surveillance and monitoring applications, delivering efficient 24/7 monitoring - anytime, anywhere, anyplace. Also at Metro Durban Rail.

Summary
For the Fifa World Cup, the main stations and some sub-stations of Durban Metro Rail were equipped first of all. Further work to complete the project is being done step-by-step so that finally 130 railway stations will be networked with one another and well secured. This represents a further contribution towards improved security in South Africa and specifically in Durban. For now, they can be satisfied, particularly that that everything is working as planned.

Ivan Chami even added: "The results that the new system delivers have far exceeded all our expectations." That's not really a surprise with such a successful start: on the day of completion of the project two rail fetishists were pulled off the track and arrested.