The new Sentinel service for workers on the UK railways launched in the second half of 2013. Rail workers must hold and present the new Sentinel card when working on or near the tracks. The new smart card, which allows the authentication of all workers when they arrive at the work site, replaced the old ones by January 2014. Managed by the contractor MITIE through their Mitec control room, according to organisers the new system means records can be instantly updated and staff hours on duty can be closer monitored. The system went live across the London North Western Route in July, starting with the Saltley Delivery Unit, near Birmingham. The full rollout followed across the network.
Some 67,000 people are qualified to work trackside on Britain’s railways; Sentinel for safety reasons keeps track of everyone. Printed on the previous Sentinel cards were all competencies and other details; they had to be sent away for reprinting with any changes. The new smart cards use an RFID chip (radio frequency identification) which can be read by card readers hooked up to a PC, and they have a QR (quick response) code on the face which can be read by smart phone. The data read by the phone is then sent to the Sentinel database, which responds with the details of the person whose data is held on the card. If you want to use a PC-connected smart card reader for use with Sentinel, you must use a recommended device. These have been tested and work with the technical specification of the cards used for Sentinel. They are HID Omnikey 5321 v2 CL, HID Omnikey 5021 CL, Identive SCL011 and Gemalto Prox-SU. Gareth Llewellyn, safety and sustainable development director, Network Rail, said: “I cannot emphasise enough how important safety is to us and how committed we are to looking after the people who work with us. Sentinel smart cards are vital to improving our ability to do that, and they also offer a means of improving the efficiency of our operation on the ground. Being able to ensure people have the correct competencies for the task will make us safer and more efficient. This is a hugely positive development for us and helps us continue to bring everyone home safe, every day.”
Visit https://www.railsentinel.co.uk and http://www.networkrail.co.uk
