Courtesy: Network Rail Media Centre
King’s Cross in the Borough of Camden, London, is one of the largest and most historic rail stations in the UK. In recent years the station has also gained worldwide renown for being the fictional home of platform 9¾, which takes Harry Potter to Hogwarts. King’s Cross is run, maintained and owned by Network Rail, its 12 platforms are used by four train operators and it is the London terminal for the East Coast Mainline, which runs from the capital to north of England and Scotland. In addition, six London Underground lines all converge below ground at Kings Cross St Pancras.
The station first opened in 1852 and each year there are 47 million pedestrian movements through the entire interchange. Following a major refurbishment of the main train sheds and an iconic new concourse, which was opened in March 2012, the station is home to the largest single span structure in Europe, which includes many shops and restaurants.
Based on site, the security team at King’s Cross is responsible for ensuring the safety and security for everyone that visits and works in and around the station. Therefore, an important consideration during the re-development project was how to improve the quality and performance of its security systems.
The station already had a robust security infrastructure with hundreds of analogue CCTV cameras, as well as other security systems and a further eight sub-systems. Project Manager at Network Rail, Brendan O’Keeffe explains: “We recognised that by integrating these disparate technologies into one centralised station management system we could become far more proactive in our security awareness and response efficiency, without the need to replace our legacy infrastructure.”
The answer for Network Rail was a Physical Security Information Management System (PSIM) and NICE Systems, as the IMS Research recognised global market leader was appointed to deploy its NICE Situator solution.
Working closely with the Network Rail project team, NICE and specialist system integrator, Fourway Communication, devised an implementation plan to integrate the station’s current systems, to deliver the control room team with a clear, single view of the station’s safety and security operations round the clock. The hard work between Network Rail and NICE in advance of deployment meant the roll-out was straightforward and smooth. O’Keeffe adds: “It was vital that we completed on schedule, as the system needed to be operational for the grand opening of the new concourse.”
Senior Design Manager at Fourway Communication said: “To implement and integrate a Management System of this nature with so many interfaces in a live operational environment is a huge logistical challenge, and the teamwork of Fourway and NICE, along with the versatility of Situator, ensured the successful delivery of the project.”
NICE Situator now provides the control room and its operators at King’s Cross with a single standardised interface from which to monitor activity across its CCTV, access control, fire, NCF III, ACS, help-points, customer information and public address systems. Security alerts from each system are immediately flagged to the operator clearly on-screen. This enables the operator to take the appropriate course of action in adherence to predetermined processes, whether that is to continue monitoring, make an announcement, co-ordinate ground-staff, or engage with third part organisations.
O’Keeffe states: “As operators only need to use one interface, the initial training needed to get operators accustomed to the new system was minimal, which means we can get new operators up to speed far quicker. It also means that they can focus more on using their surveillance skills.”
Having a central system has also improved the speed and efficiency with which the control room can share vital information with on-site and external stakeholders, such as train operators, British Transport
Police and other emergency services, to co-ordinate a response to an incident, as well as improve services to the public. “We have far more insight into what is going on throughout the station complex,” explains O’Keeffe. “We can now investigate areas where people have fallen, or places where people are asking for directions which may indicate a need for better signage. This is an important consideration as we are measured on public perception.”