The voice alarm and public address system at the new Woolwich Arsenal station has been supplied and installed by PEL Services. Part of the extended DLR (Docklands Light Railway) in East London, Woolwich Arsenal provides an alternative way to cross the River Thames.
The system installed by PEL comprises a Bosch Praesidio digital public address and emergency sound system, linked to Penton column speakers in the concourse and Penton projection speakers on the platforms. There is also a zoned station microphone located in the station operations room for general announcements, plus local station microphones at passenger emergency points for use by station staff at platform level.
All equipment was chosen to provide the best audibility for announcements, with ambient noise sensing automatically adjusting the volume of announcements to cope with changing noise levels. The fact that all equipment can be contained in one rack was an important consideration with space at a premium.
The Praesidio system also offers design flexibility thanks to its optical network and a high level of redundancy, and has been linked into the fire alarm system.
The voice evacuation 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 be quickly assembled. There is also scratch-pad for the operators to assemble messages for later transmission or be produced directly from a microphone.
