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30 years of safe and secure metro operation in Vienna: Successful strategies and future developments

Posted: 13 June 2007 | Karl Bergner, Head of Metro Operations, Wiener Linien and Thomas Kritzer, Metro Operations Department, Wiener Linien | No comments yet

Modern public transport in a large city is expected to keep transit times short, but it is also expected to give potential customers a feeling of comfort, safety and security. These factors play a major role in city dwellers’ choice of transport modes. Thirty years of successful metro service with growing ridership confirm the expedience of previous safety and security strategies. New plans and concepts for future policies are designed to continue this success story in the next decades.

Vienna is not only one of the most beautiful cities but also a city where urban transit is much appreciated and accepted by the population. This is mirrored in a trend reversal in favour of public transport, the modal split between public transport and motorised individual transport being at a ratio of 35% to 34% (2006).

Modern public transport in a large city is expected to keep transit times short, but it is also expected to give potential customers a feeling of comfort, safety and security. These factors play a major role in city dwellers’ choice of transport modes. Thirty years of successful metro service with growing ridership confirm the expedience of previous safety and security strategies. New plans and concepts for future policies are designed to continue this success story in the next decades. Vienna is not only one of the most beautiful cities but also a city where urban transit is much appreciated and accepted by the population. This is mirrored in a trend reversal in favour of public transport, the modal split between public transport and motorised individual transport being at a ratio of 35% to 34% (2006).

Modern public transport in a large city is expected to keep transit times short, but it is also expected to give potential customers a feeling of comfort, safety and security. These factors play a major role in city dwellers’ choice of transport modes. Thirty years of successful metro service with growing ridership confirm the expedience of previous safety and security strategies. New plans and concepts for future policies are designed to continue this success story in the next decades.

Vienna is not only one of the most beautiful cities but also a city where urban transit is much appreciated and accepted by the population. This is mirrored in a trend reversal in favour of public transport, the modal split between public transport and motorised individual transport being at a ratio of 35% to 34% (2006).

Also passengers’ personal safety and security is well taken care of, especially so by the main transit provider, Vienna’s metro, as is evidenced by the outcome of international benchmarking exercises such as the BEST Study which provide excellent personal safety and security ratings for metro users in Vienna.

Historical development and safety/security strategy

The metro is the youngest child of urban transit services provided by Wiener Linien in Vienna. The first line section was inaugurated in 1978. Since then metro service has grown up and now comprises 65km in length of line operated, 5 lines and 81 stations. Roughly 1.2 million passengers use the system on a daily basis.

The comparatively new infrastructure with its inviting architectural design contributes towards a positive feeling of safety and security among riders. The stations have been and continue to be equipped with light-coloured materials, frequently glass panels, to ensure transparency and a good view of all station premises. This is particularly expedient for lifts where glass-encased lift cars and shafts are the state-of-the-art used by Vienna’s metro builders.

Despite an open system (no access barriers) this will ensure a high safety and security standard.

Another safety and security strategy is to have local Station Monitoring Centres, which were part of the basic blueprint at the beginning of metro construction in Vienna. The now adopted strategy provides for such Monitoring Centres at junctions and highly frequented stations. In these manned Centres employees of the Metro Operations Department will monitor the technical infrastructure and use CCTV to monitor the passenger areas of up to five stations. The Monitoring Centres are also a major point of service delivery in terms of passenger information and advice.

The stations are monitored by these employees 24 hours a day. Patrols of the entire structure, especially the platforms, ensure that the patrolling employees are seen by metro users, thus heightening their feeling of safety and security. Moreover, monitoring staff may intervene where necessary to ensure continued service for the benefit of customers.

In addition to these Monitoring Centres and their crews, Vienna’s metro organisation employs mobile station guards who work in groups of two and patrol the entire metro network in defined areas to ensure safe and secure operation also in stations without Monitoring Centres. This policy of using mobile station guards will be further upgraded and play an even greater role in improving flexibility in the organisation’s response to operational events and to passengers’ need for safety and security.

The station crews are readily identifiable and highly visible for passengers by their uniforms and yellow safety vests.

Mobile units are on tour and closely cooperate with the local police. Another focus are special squads combating organised beggar groups. The largest metro junction of the city, Karlsplatz, boasts its own squad of metro employees who, in cooperation with social workers of the City of Vienna, reach out to disoriented and addicted individuals in an attempt to minimise conflicts with other passengers.

These different groups and tasks provide a well-balanced mix of policies and measures tailored to each of the requirements of metro service.

Passenger safety and security, however, is not only ensured by the presence of staff but also by appropriate technical facilities.

Each platform is equipped with three kinds of emergency devices for use by passengers: emergency intercom to the Operations Control Centre, emergency stop device and fire extinguisher. Adorned with a so-called ‘SOS cube’, they are highly visible. All mobile telephone systems work well throughout the entire metro network, thus adding yet another safety and security factor for passengers as they can always alert emergency squads if need be.

All lifts are also equipped with emergency intercoms that connect callers directly to the Operations Control Centre.

If passengers find themselves in some emergency situation without being able to reach a member of the metro staff or one of the emergency intercoms, they may use the metro emergency number, which will also put them through to the Operations Control Centre directly. This number is written on stickers distributed across stations to enable passengers to call competent staff via their mobile phones. This policy has been newly introduced this year, and we hope to be able to report on experiences made with it in a few months’ time.

Inside trains each group of doors features an emergency intercom to the driver and an emergency brake. In addition, a door can be unlocked and opened using the door emergency button.

The operational safety strategy is such that in emergency cases trains should be driven to the nearest station. This is why the emergency brake is bypassed outside stations. The reason for this policy is the short distance of roughly 750m from one station to the next. Intervention in emergency situations and passenger evacuation is deemed to be much easier and more expedient inside stations.

Video surveillance of the metro network

An increasingly important factor in matters concerning passenger safety and security is surveillance based on CCTV technology (Closed Circuit Television).

As early as the 1970s, when Vienna’s metro network was planned and designed, a very progressive strategy was adopted with due regard to appropriate video surveillance. The original blueprint foresaw that all platforms be equipped with two video cameras per track, and that all escalators and station accesses next to ticket vending machines be monitored by cameras. These pictures are transmitted to the local Station Monitoring Centre and the Operations Control Centre.

The cameras installed along platforms were originally used for monitor-controlled train dispatching on the one hand, and for helping the local Station Monitoring Centre’s staff to keep an eye on what is going on along platforms. The escalator cameras enable Monitoring Centre crews to remote-control these moving staircases and activate an emergency stop in case of service interruptions or other emergencies to get a better overview of the situation. The ticket vending machines are monitored to prevent manipulation and theft.

However, in the 1980s Vienna’s metro started using mirrors for train dispatching as they were deemed to be a more suitable means. Since then platform cameras have been used primarily for monitoring purposes.

CCTV as a key instrument of the Operations Control Centre

The most important control feature since the beginning of metro service in Vienna has been the Operations Control Centre. However, a constantly growing metro network required a more sophisticated control system. This is why in May 2006 a newly built state-of-the-art Control Centre took up operation at the Erdberg-based depot. In operation since 1979, the former Control Centre at Karlsplatz station will be gradually phased out and shut down by 2009.

When the old Operations Control Centre was inaugurated in 1979, 12 freely selectable camera pictures per metro line could be simultaneously transmitted to the Centre. However, these were only live pictures, the system did not include any recording options. Transmission was ensured via normal telephone lines. The pictures could be selected from various camera locations as required.

Using digital network technology, the new Operations Control Centre ensures the simultaneous transmission of much more pictures per line.

In case of deviations from routine operation (service interruption, emergencies, accidents, etc.) the pictures relayed by CCTV are an important source of information for employees, signalmen, supervisory staff in the Control Centre and helps them take the appropriate decisions.

Further development of CCTV

The new Operations Control Centre includes the option of recording the pictures made by video cameras. This changed and expanded surveillance strategy is due to changes in the general framework on the one hand, and to technical progress on the other.

Life and living conditions in the city have resulted in socially disoriented groups and drug trafficking being concentrated in specific public spaces, a situation that impacts on passengers’ subjective feeling of safety and security.

In general, more attention is being paid to the safety of underground transport structures owing to tunnel safety concerns. Another more recent phenomenon is worldwide terrorism, which has also raised the stakes for monitoring vulnerable infrastructure.

Technical progress in the transmission of video pictures (digital network technology) nowadays enables us to transfer large amounts of data. The positive cost development for digital storage media allows saving data for as long as 48 hours to follow up on events. Storing data for a longer period of time is not permitted under the strict provisions of Austria’s data privacy legislation.

Owing to the various control options, zoom, pan, tilt and other functions these state-of-the art cameras provide a wide range of applications for improved surveillance of passenger areas from the Operations Control Centre.

New CCTV surveillance concept implemented for the first time

The inauguration of the last extension of the U1 line in September 2006 also introduced an upgraded CCTV surveillance concept for metro stations. Alongside previously used camera locations next to platforms, escalators and ticket vending machines, other camera locations have been added.

Now also staircases, passageways and entresol levels are being monitored to improve safety, security and visibility of station premises in case of extraordinary events. Operations Control Centre staff can also see inside lifts owing to built-in cameras. A link between the video and lift emergency call systems enables supervisory staff at the Control Centre to receive visual information about the situation inside a lift car whenever an emergency call comes in.

The platform cameras with zoom, pan and tilt functions provide an extensive view of platforms and will automatically connect the Control Centre to a view of the environs of an emergency intercom if such a call station has been activated by passengers.

Currently more than 1,100 cameras operate throughout the metro network , a number that is bound to rise owing to the upgraded CCTV surveillance concept, as for instance roughly 70 surveillance cameras will be installed in a junction currently under construction. This new concept is also the standard requirement for any renewals in the existing network. A number of exposed stations are now being retrofitted for the EURO 2008 to ensure safety and security for the European Football Championship.

In summer 2006 the first metro vehicles of the V series took up service. They include a CCTV surveillance system that records pictures in passenger spaces. Four cameras are assigned to each vehicle, which record pictures for 48 hours. However, these pictures are only recorded inside vehicles and will not be transmitted to the driver’s cab or to the Operations Control Centre.

All new metro vehicles are to be equipped, and all metro vehicles in use for another ten years or more are to be retrofitted, with this system. The objective is to have retrofitting completed by the beginning of the EURO 2008.

Recorded pictures taken by CCTV surveillance cameras should facilitate police work in identifying perpetrators of acts of vandalism and an ex post examination of pictures taken of specific situations should help us ward off any unjustified claims, such as claims for damages caused by operational events.

Moreover, recorded pictures should improve the ways and means of prosecuting offences, i.e. courts may order that video recordings made by surveillance cameras be handed over to the investigating authorities under defined procedural requirements.

Since stickers are used to inform passengers of CCTV surveillance in vehicles and stations, Vienna’s metro organisation also expects this to have a preventive effect.

Outlook on the future of extended safety and security measures

CCTV surveillance will continue to play a key role in safety and security considerations.

There are plans to install a safety and security workstation at the Operations Control Centre. Based on enhanced CCTV surveillance it should be used to direct metro operations employees and other in-house emergency staff to places where they are needed. This workstation should also and in particular ensure close contact with police squads, other modes of transport and other external emergency crews.

The staff working at this safety and security workstation should also use CCTV and other technical means to monitor reversing track and lay over areas, as well as depots and material warehouses. For instance, reversing track and lay over areas will be equipped with systems that trigger event-related alarms at the safety and security workstation.

Research projects and in-house expert departments are continuously testing and developing new picture processing and event detection systems. One of these research projects focuses on the transmission of pictures from moving trains to the Operations Control Centre. The trials conducted to date give rise to optimism.

Based on a variety of safety and security measures Wiener Linien aims to provide as much comfort, speed, safety and security as possible to passengers using the metro system as a means of enhancing their mobility. Consistent further developments and innovations are intended to ensure continued success in the future application of such strategies.

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