V/Line Geelong

Project Overview

V/Line is Victoria's largest regional public transport operator and an existing client of Wilson Security. Having completed a detailed threat and risk analysis and developed a detailed understanding of the security requirements of this major rail operator, Wilson Security developed the optimum solution for V/Line's sites.

The Geelong stabling yard is situated approximately 500 metres north of the Geelong Train Station platforms. The stabling yard is used to park rolling stock when not in use. This site was prone to graffiti on the sides of trains. With the trains hidden from sight of the road by various obstacles, the offenders were free to paint their tags. The likelihood of them being discovered on site is low.

The problems with this particular location were:

• The location is not in line of sight to the station
• One side of the line cannot be seen from the road when the train is stabled
• The washer obscures the view of the signal office.

Wilson Security commissioned a trial to assess the effectiveness of using event driven monitoring using video surveillance cameras at V/Line's Geelong stabling yard.

The solution was to mount four cameras that had a field of view along the length of the locomotive when it was parked. Wilson chose CCTV units that met the following criteria:

• High resolution sensors
  • The cameras need to be able to produce evidential quality footage; this will help in the prosecution of offenders. If the site becomes a difficult target for graffiti artists then incidents will reduce
• Flexible time tabled alert and recording
  • The need for flexible time tables to accommodate weekends, public holidays and school holidays will help to only record and alert the control room when the train is stabled.
• On site storage
  • To reduce the use of bandwidth over the WAN footage needs to be recorded locally; this will save bandwidth and the associated costs
• Low bandwidth video streams
  • The connectivity is based on the Next G network where bandwidth is limited, video streams need to be able to stream within the capability of the cellular networks upload speeds
• Able to function in all lighting conditions present at the site
  • The site is subject to varying lighting conditions. The CCTV units will face conditions ranging from direct sunlight late in the afternoon to full darkness with minimal ambient street lighting.
• "Smart" motion detection
  • The need for smart motion detection was to optimise the number of alerts to a manageable level without degrading the quality of incident detection
• Secure camera interface
  • Since the camera is connected directly to our IT network the cameras need to be able to conform to the security policies that safeguard our corporate network.

Wilson Security managed the entire project, from sourcing the most appropriate camera to installation.

V/Line has experienced a positive result following the installation of Wilson Security's event driven monitoring and video surveillance, with a reduction in security events at their Geelong stabling yard.