With installations already in full operation on Shanghai Metro’s Line 6 and Line 9, Beijing STY turned again to the UK access control firm TDSi’s products, with its distribution partner in China, ZDX, to provide security for Line 7.
Shanghai Metro is one of the newest and fastest growing rapid transit systems in the world, with 329 stations and over 538km of track running above and underground, making it one of the longest in the world. On average, over six million passengers use the system every day .
Line 7 connects the Baoshan District with the city centre and Pudong District. It also provided a link to the site of the World Expo, hosted by Shanghai in 2010.
Beijing STY, with TDSi and ZDX, had already developed and supplied fully integrated access control for Lines 6 and 9. Each Line is served by over 40 stations as well as its own Operational Control Centre (OCC), with around 2,000 doors secured and controlled by TDSi’s systems on each line.
TDSi’s Managing Director, John Davies, pictured, said: “The Shanghai Metro is a very significant and high profile infrastructure programme, representing one of the largest access control projects across the whole of China. With two lines having already been in operation using TDSi solutions for over a year, we were delighted that Beijing STY chose to use TDSi products and services again for the project on Line 7. The project win and implementation are a prominent demonstration of Beijing STY’s security expertise and knowledge, along with the performance and quality of our systems, in very demanding conditions.”
The access for the project features TDSi’s EXpert controllers, EXgarde Enterprise software platform and MIFARE smart card readers. EXpert delivers a fully featured and networkable system, the makers say. Each controller has a capacity of up to 48,000 cards and provides fast and effective access control to projects such as the Shanghai Metro, which has consistently high volumes of users passing through multiple access points. The OCC and each station’s controllers are programmed via EXgarde Enterprise, TDSi’s access management software application. Each station is capable of operating independently of the server in cases where communications are lost – a key requirement in the specification for this project, the access firm says.
Featuring database replication for disaster recovery, EXgarde Enterprise allows all real-time events and system parameters to be stored at the main server in the local OCC and at each individual station. However should communications be lost between the centre and any of the stations, changes and events are stored at the local stations until communications to the main server are re-established, at which point, the databases are re-synchronised.
EXgarde Enterprise allows the system to be managed centrally, even where the Wide Area Network (WAN) may be of variable quality, effectively the makers say removing the risk of single point failure.
TDSi MIFARE smart card readers are employed throughout each Line. Providing contactless technology, the readers provide a cost efficient, reliable solution, it is claimed, that also allows for expansion —for example, allowing the same access control card to be used for cashless vending and car park management.
