Since its operation in 1996, the Metro system in Taiwan has been effectively relieving the enduring traffic congestions with ridership average over 1.66 million riders per day on the medium and heavy-capacity cargo trains. The system operates through a spoke-hub distribution paradigm, with the majority of rail lines running radially outward from central city. The maintenance station resides outside in the rural area of the major city, where this metropolitan rapid transit holds numerous cargos for careful care and inspections.
Station outside of the major city, the maintenance crew faced with large tractors and equipment use to maintain the cargo trains. Crew members were forced to travel in between large machines, uneven platforms, dark tunnels, and work in various hazardous locations. Taiwan Metro sought not only to improve the passengers on board, but its worker’s safety and efficiency against unsafe areas and its second largest problem-graffiti.
In the past, the company relies on security patrols to maintain security in the stations. This was not only inefficient but labor-intensive. Despite a large number of security guards hired, creative artist were still able to break-in and spray their arms to an unlimited tunnels and cargo sheet metals walls as their canvas. Moreover, accidents and incidence of crimes are often left as a mystery, as evidences are vague with no real eyewitness to testify. The company decided to protect its properties as well as its staff members in a more efficient and cost-effective way by installing Plustek’s economical yet flexible video surveillance solution.
Solution
Taiwan Metro chose Plustek, the leading manufacturer of innovative Linux-based, standalone Network Video Recorders (NVR), in this ground-breaking deployment to monitor the company’s vehicles, properties, and human resources, mainly because the stability and anti-vibration technology Plustek’s mobile product line brings.
The road and rail networks form an important part of our public transportation systems. It requires
regular inspections to avoid major incidents or unplanned interruptions. Maintenance hub/stations are one of the key components in this network. Plustek’s video surveillance solution offered the crew cargo to deploy both analog and IP cameras to aid MRT management in monitoring vehicle activity, ensuring safe performance, and to provide increased safety for drivers. Video footage were accessible by authorized personnel to surveillance the unsafe areas and drivers to act immediately. Footage and videos were also recorded and stored in the central office as evidence. In the event of crime or accidents, by analyzing recorded footage, security officials can identify suspects or determine faults and examine what steps need to be taken to prevent future acts from occurring.
The crew cargo are equipped with Plustek NVR 4200V and stabilizer power module (NP 240), the “V” series are susceptible to vibration during transit in all Plustek’s mobile lines. This class of NVRs is designed to be suppresses heavy vibration during transit, which it contains the “V” technology that isolates the hard drive to eight springs which minimize vibration and mount on to a three-level shock absorbing cushions to minimized shock and movement, in turn delivering uninterrupted transmission of video and making them a perfect fit for moving vehicles and other transportation deployments. In addition, the MRT is using the Plustek back-end VMS “MultiManager,” which enables them to automatically back up video to a designated online server, IPC, and wirelessly to other storage devices.
Result
After deploying Plustek video surveillance, MRT Cargo management, monitoring video from Taiwan Metro’s central office, is finding that the high quality video images enable them to study employee driving behavior, identify problems, and help them to identify accidents more efficiently and productively. There were less graffiti to cleanup, as cleaning up graffiti is an expensive task, and video surveillance helps in reducing the frequency of such activity.
Taiwan Metro’s satisfaction with the project results so far means project expansion is looking extremely upright. Plustek is one of the few manufacturers featuring EN-50155, IEC 60571, e-Mark, along with vibration-resistant protection on it devices—making Plustek the perfect choice for Taiwan Metro’s mobile transportation surveillance needs.
