First Capital Connect (FCC) transports around 150,000 customers every day, making it one of the UK’s busiest rail networks. As part of FCC’s network-wide Station Improvements Programme, an IP-based security project was organised with a simple purpose: to ensure the continued security of customers, staff, premises and assets.
To achieve this, FCC selected ATEC Security to install an IP-based video surveillance recording and transmission system across 63 train stations. The project took over 10,000 man hours to complete, and was delivered in under eight months. Every 24 hours the new systems record over one billion images and, post-implementation, FCC has the benefit of:
The Background to the Project
First Capital Connect (FCC) operates trains through London to Brighton, Bedford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn. It serves two international airports (Gatwick and Luton) and St Pancras International. As part of its five-year, GB pound 8 million, network-wide Station Improvements Programme, FCC prioritised the safety and security of all its customers and staff.
All train operators are required to ensure the safety of their passengers under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and, in civil law, under the Occupiers’ Liability Act. Both require train operators to take all reasonably practicable steps to reduce the risks to the public and staff. CCTV is seen to play a major role in supporting this objective, and FCC identified the need to update its existing CCTV system.
First Capital Connect made a commitment to the rail regulator to have 95% of its surveillance cameras centrally monitored by 31 March this year, with 100% centrally monitored by 31 March 2009.
The Challenge for FCC
Timescales were short in order to meet FCC’s first commitment deadline. For critical safety continuity, recording of the existing CCTV system could not stop while installing a new system, and yet limited space at the stations meant that it was impossible to have the two systems working in parallel. It also meant that the new system would have to work smoothly from the moment of installation.
In addition to the first implementation challenge, a traditional rail environment will rarely come equipped with a communications and server room. In some cases at FCC’s stations, there was no building in which to install the equipment at all.
Measuring and controlling communications traffic on a network to avoid congestion or poor quality footage is a prerequisite with an IP CCTV system. When there’s a major incident, digital recording systems are able to provide higher quality evidence than tape-based ones.
The challenge has always been securing that evidence for review. FCC’s new system would require a mechanism to ensure large-scale evidence seizure and review with minimal disruption to recording. Ensuring FCC has evidential quality footage means there can be no loss or interruption of the video feed. Therefore, bandwidth management is an absolutely critical technical element in a project of this scale.
FCC needed a partner with proven CCTV-over-IP expertise and comprehensive working practices to adhere to the strict safety and security requirements necessary in the rail environment.
The Partner: ATEC Security
In July 2007, FCC selected specialist security and communications systems integrator ATEC Security to take on the challenge of upgrading its CCTV system.
Traditionally in the CCTV industry, equipment is selected on a project-by-project basis and, as a result, installers are often left reliant on manufacturers for detailed design and system support. As most manufacturers are not equipped to provide this level of back-up, that can lead to substandard after-sales service. ATEC, however, has the expertise in the solution, giving customers direct access to an ATEC expert in the UK, 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week.
ATEC specialises in multi-site public space surveillance. Working in partnership with FCC, the company had the support and technical expertise to bring the future of CCTV into the present. Refreshingly, ATEC is an independent CCTV-focused business and has completed the transition to IP smoothly.
ATEC’s R&D analysts worked with the CCTV installation and support teams to design a bespoke, technologically advanced project which met the FCC’s specific needs. Ade Aluko – station services manager at First Capital Connect – told info4security.com: “ATEC’s professional work practices and respect and adherence to strict safety and security requirements necessary in the rail environment makes the company an excellent supplier.”
The Implementation Phases
ATEC developed a programme to meet FCC’s tight timescales, putting stations into 12 groups to gain maximum efficiencies and ensured that work on the ground was frequently ahead of programme. In fact, the programme proved so successful that the first target was met ahead of schedule.
Belen Martinez – projects director at FCC – stated: “From procurement to completion of installation of our digital CCTV system, ATEC has proven to be a professional, proactive and honest partner. The company demonstrated a high level of knowledge, depth of experience and excellent project management skills in providing a technical system to a tight timeframe.”
Addressing the challenges presented by the FCC project, such as the continuity of the existing CCTV system with the implementation of the new set up, ATEC undertook an extensive programme of offsite pre-building, configuration and soak testing. Following extensive simulations, the installer implemented full bandwidth management to ensure peaceful cohabitation between the new system and FCC’s existing network traffic.
With no temperature-controlled environment to safely house servers and IP transmitters and a lack of space at most FCC sites, ATEC developed a compact form factor server to deliver high capacity redundant storage in a very short timeframe. Where necessary, the company also provided secure and durable on-platform cabinets to house the equipment.
Ade Aluko continued: “ATEC’s installations are always of a high standard of workmanship, and installed with the minimum of fuss. The engineers worked effortlessly with station staff to minimise impact on workflow and our customers.”
ATEC also managed to rate IP transmitters and servers to temperatures not normally found in IT rooms. This required ATEC’s R&D Team to adapt testing and server configuration months before the contract was even awarded. ATEC was committed to ensuring delivery of the right solution in the required timescales.
The Benefits of the Installation
Since implementation, the ATEC system is already exceeding reliability and camera availability targets. Innovative bandwidth management to measure and control network traffic has ensured evidential quality footage, with no loss or interruption of the video feed.
All CCTV cameras are networked using an IP video transmitter which relays footage back to the new centralised Control Room. This is monitored and staffed 24/7, 364 days-a-year on behalf of FCC at the Enfield Public Safety Centre.
Footage is saved for a 31-day period – achieved through the provision of over 470 terabytes of redundant storage provided by ATEC and installed in station buildings and platform cabinets. FCC’s centrally monitored system can now handle multiple streams with, for example, high bandwidth for recording and local live viewing and low bandwidth for remote monitoring over the WAN. The bandwidth may be adjusted according to requirements and is monitored to maximise network efficiency.
To ensure the system is able to provide large-scale evidential quality footage quickly with minimal disruption to the system, the six Tb ATEC storage server allows all hard drives to be safely removed and replaced within ten minutes. The server then commences recording on the new hard drives at the same time as re-building the RAID storage array. The original drives can be replaced in a dedicated server chassis, which is located in the Control Room, and effectively reviewed by the British Transport Police (BTP).
The Service Level Agreement
The FCC project sets new standards for support. ATEC has introduced initiatives that really raise the bar in the CCTV security space.
As part of the comprehensive and fully-transparent SLA in place with ATEC, FCC can speak directly to an ATEC expert in the UK at any time of the day or night. The Automatic SLA Compliance Calculation informs FCC of faults, repair time and adherence to SLA targets. All reports are produced to FCC’s requirements showing the SLA compliance and availability for the most recent four-week railway period and for the preceding 12 months.
In addition, FCC and ATEC system engineers benefit from remote management facilities, enabling configuration of any element remotely. The self-managing element of the system automatically identifies any fault and notifies FCC and ATEC engineers, meaning that faults can often be dealt with before they are even reported. The Automatic Availability System also ensures FCC can see when there is a fault, what impact it will have and when it has been resolved.
What of The Future?
Using FCC’s existing wide area network (WAN), ATEC carried out specialist network integration to ensure that, as the rail network grows, the system is able to expand with it. A new web portal will allow FCC to log its own cases and check the status for ultimate network control.
ATEC and FCC continue to work together and have installed 62 new Help Points at 35 stations since the turn of the year.
“Working with the whole ATEC team has been a seamless process. Their flexible, pragmatic approach in all areas has ensured that we look forward to working with them again for many years to come,” concluded Martin Grier, head of revenue protection and security at First Capital Connect.
