Part of the extended DLR in East London, Woolwich Arsenal provides an alternative way to cross the River Thames. Opened in January 2009, this is the DLR’s 40th station, and has been designed to a very high quality to incorporate modern passenger facilities.
The new PA and voice alarm systems were installed at the station by PEL Services, one of the UK’s foremost providers of commercial sound and communication systems. PEL was awarded the contract by Transmitton (Siemens) as a result of its extensive experience in working with Section 12 (sub-surface) stations.
Experience gained from previous projects
The voice alarm system is clearly a very important aspect of these facilities, as Vic Swain of PEL Services explained to SMT Online: “In designing the PA/VA system, we were looking to offer the very best in audibility for announcements and deliver a reliable and effective system to passengers using the station. Having previously worked on a number of other projects for the DLR, the Bosch Praesideo solution was the obvious choice.”
Bosch’s Praesideo is a fully-digital PA and emergency sound system. Its optical network offers total freedom in system design, interference-free audio and a high level of redundancy that traditional systems cannot. On top of that, it’s fully programmable and neatly interfaces with other security systems.
“We interfaced Praesideo with the fire alarm system and incorporated ambient noise sensing throughout to adjust the Customer Information Systems announcements so that they could cope with changing noise levels,” added Swain, “while also ensuring that the fire alarms remain at a pre-set level for complete safety.”
Passenger emergency points
Praesideo is linked to column speakers in the concourse and projection speakers on the platforms. There’s also a zoned station microphone located in the Operations Room. This is used for general announcements. In addition, local station microphones are sited at passenger emergency points for use by station staff at platform level.
“Thanks to its optical network and a high level of redundancy, the Praesideo system offers design flexibility,” continued Swain. “The fact that all equipment can be contained in one rack was an important consideration, given that space is at a premium.”
Swain concluded: “We knew that Praesideo would meet the demands of the station, and had the quality software for ease of installation. Alongside its recognised installer training programmes, Bosch also offered end user training for the station staff. That’s of vital importance in my view.”
Long Line Public Address system
The new voice alarm system at Woolwich Arsenal station is part of the Long Line Public Address (LLPA) system for DLR, which allows messages to be obtained from a pre-programmed standard suite and quickly assembled. There’s also a scratch-pad for the operators to assemble messages for later transmission or direct production from a microphone.
Announcements may be sent simultaneously to all stations, groups of stations or individual stations. A dedicated workstation in the Network Control Room at Poplar facilitates these.
