A wireless fire alarm has been specified and installed so far on seven Crossrail projects in London and several miles of track. The installations include bespoke solutions such as emergency exit signal systems mostly operating underground.
The alarm in use is the Cygnus, developed and designed by Bull Products for use on construction sites. The new Elizabeth line, which will emerge from the Crossrail project, begins services in 2018 to central London and from the end of 2019 will run from Heathrow through the new tunnels, as a link to central London destinations including Bond Street, Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf. The Cygnus system is able to link some 480 alarm devices in 15 zones. The CE-marked system is used with a selection of units including fire alarms, smoke detectors, heat detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, first aid call points and combined call point and first aid alerts. On Crossrail, the alarms are operating at stations, access shafts and ventilation shafts across many of the stations on the line.
At Paddington Station, ten Cygnus units are in use, with a Cygnus control panel. Also a Cygnus Interface unit connects the Cygnus units to 19 radio-link heat detectors. At Tottenham Court Road Station, Crossrail is providing a new underground station and ticket hall at Dean Street (Soho) and a second integrated ticket hall below St Giles Circus on Oxford Street. Here over 80 Cygnus fire call point and first aid alarms are installed, linked to two main Cygnus control panels. There are also four Cygnus input/output which connects four bespoke safety signal lights with the Cygnus alarm units. In the event of an evacuation the light signal stays green to indicate the exit is safe to use, if not, it turns red. As mobile phones are not allowed on site, a paging system is also connected to the Cygnus control panel so that when an alert is raised the pager system panel sends a text message to a hand-held pager device that is worn by site managers or first aiders.
At Liverpool Street Station, some 30 Cygnus units are installed including a Cygnus control panel and 29 Cygnus Fire Call Point and First Aid Alarms. And Whitechapel Station has 25 Cygnus Fire Alarm Call Point units installed, linked to a Cygnus control panel.
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