Securing Stockholm

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), the regional transport authority responsible for running metro, buses, commuter trains and local railways in Sweden’s capital city, is in the process of improving security across its network.

The ‘Security Project’ is designed to raise security for the travelling public as well as SL’s workers. The project includes the installation of a new video and alarm management system, which will be installed at all stations in the Stockholm metro system by October 2007. It also involves the installation of CCTV cameras across SL’s fleet of buses. According to SL, the project intends to: minimise the number of robberies and attacks; help provide the police with proof of crimes; reduce the cost of vandalism; reduce the numbers of injuries and deaths; increase the sense of security for SL travellers and personnel; shorten response times in alarm situations; minimise false alarms; and minimise public transport disruption. Christian Shelton spoke to Henrik Virro, Project Manager at SL, to find out more.

Why was it necessary to introduce a ‘Security Project’?

The aim of the project is to increase the security of our passengers and personnel. In Stockholm we had a number of incidents where our bus drivers were robbed and our passengers also said they felt “unsafe” in the evening and during the night on the tube.

When did you start the project and when is it scheduled to finish?

The project started in January 2005 and is scheduled to finish at the end of 2008.

What are its main aims?

One of SL’s priority areas is security for our passengers. Experienced security is a combination of an absence of accidents, threats and violence, and the effects of, among other aspects, lighting, graffiti and vandalism, camera surveillance, etc. The presence of uniformed staff on SL’s services has had a significant impact on our passengers’ sense of security.

We shall offer security in all types of traffic and throughout the entire traffic day. The standard of security is at present good during daytime traffic but considerable worse during the evening and in weekend night services. Passengers, employees and authorities have in various investigations, contacts and written communications expressed their concern that our passengers experience a sense of insecurity when travelling on public transport and have demanded that action be taken, particularly during the evenings and at nights on the weekends.

Action also needs to be taken to reduce vandalism. The protection of SL’s infrastructure and vehicles shall therefore be improved. In order to increase security, the experiences of the police shall be used in the training of public transport personnel. Un-secure environments shall be made secure by, among other things, improving the lighting in stations and at bus-stops. SL personnel shall also be located in areas where they are more visible to passengers.

By 2010 we aim that the following will have been achieved:

• Passenger’s experience of SL Transport means that it is regarded as being a safe and secure environment, regardless of the time of day
• Employees within SL Transport experience a complete sense of security in their workplaces
• Camera surveillance in SL Transport is installed to the extent that is matched by the demand
• The police are more visible in SL Transport and take faster and more effective action
• The presence of visible personnel has increased in SL Transport
• SL infrastructure and commuter train sidings are protected
• Vandalism and the number of situations involving threats and violence have been reduced to less than 50% of the level at the end of 2004
• SL has managed to put a stop to organised begging
• Permit granting and camera surveillance are administratively manageable.

How much have you invested in the project and which areas did you identify as needing protecting?

The total budget is about 200 MSEK and we will install cameras in commuter train stations, tube stations and buses.

What are the different elements of the system and what equipment have you invested in?

We have invested in a video, alarm and geography system called VMS/C3 from Visual Defence. The VMS/C3 system will handle all our camera installations and all our safety alarms. The system is managed from our security centre and from our traffic department (who also look after different alarm systems).

We will also use video analysis to detect if someone is entering the tube track. If something is detected, an alarm will be sent to the traffic department. This will either stop the train or allow staff to take any other necessary action.

We are also looking to install ‘help phones’ – also manufactured by Visual Defence. We have run a few trial systems and the response from the general public has been very positive.

We have installed fire alarms in all the tunnels and stations to further increase security in the tube.

Finally, we conducted a trial by installing cameras at a station called Zinkensdamm in the summer of 2005. We tested our concept there and fine tuned our requirements for the real system.

How were existing security installations integrated into the new system? Were there any problems in achieving this?

This is ongoing and not yet finalised. The existing camera installations are integrated by adding an Axis video server that converts the signal from analogue to digital.

I understand that you have also installed on-board bus cameras that link into the video management system. How does this work?

We will equip 2000 buses with either 5 or 6 cameras. The bus cameras will be linked though a WLAN/WIFI network at the bus depot. An operator can choose to secure video when the bus is in operation. A message will then be sent through SLS Tetra network to the actual bus to secure the material. When the bus enters the depot it receives the WIFI connection and the video is transmitted into the management system.

SL has also set up a ‘vandalism database’. Can you tell us how this works?

There has been a large problem with graffiti in Stockholm. So we developed the database which has already helped us successfully prosecute offenders. Our cleaners take photographs of each incident of graffiti. These photos, together with information about where it happened, are stored on the database. An incident report is then automatically sent to the police.