From incident to response in under a minute at ProRail
ProRail oversees the safety of train railways and over 400 stations in the Netherlands. Find out how cutting-edge security tech is helping them spot incidents faster, collaborate better with partners, and offer passengers a safe and smooth journey.
The company
ProRail is the government organization responsible for managing and developing the Dutch railway network, one of the busiest in the world. The company oversees the construction, maintenance, and safety of the train railways in the Netherlands, as well as over 400 stations. ProRail also controls daily train traffic and manages over 7,000 cameras, ensuring operations run smoothly and people remain safe. The organization keeps the Netherlands connected and moving, easing travel for millions of passengers every day.
The challenge
Every day, different incidents occur on and around the Dutch rail network. ProRail must be able to respond to these incidents quickly to keep trains running on time. These incidents range from extreme weather conditions and track obstacles to graffiti artists and even animals, such as beavers, obstructing the infrastructure. The team at ProRail might also need to address track walkers or individuals who are experiencing a mental health crisis. The faster an incident is detected and dealt with, the smoother and safer the journey is for passengers.
The solution
Complete view of the railway
With Security Center Omnicast, the team can easily monitor all video within the railway environment. Video analytics deliver critical information, automatically detecting track walkers and trespassers.
Faster insights and decisions
Mission Control, the decision management system, filters alarms, analyzes patterns, and sends relevant video and data to operators. This helps them act quickly and proactively during emergencies.
Secure evidence management
Using Clearance, ProRail securely shares evidence with the National Police and others. The team also quickly exports video into Clearance and starts building cases in minutes, speeding up investigations.
Passenger privacy protection
The team uses privacy masks and blurring to make travelers, pedestrians, and other individuals unrecognizable in the video footage. This helps strike a balance between security and privacy rights.
“No two days are ever alike when dealing with incidents on the railways. Genetec solutions enable ProRail to enhance passenger safety, deal with incidents promptly, and support a truly reliable railway network.”
Kristian Ruiter, Project Manager at ProRail
Results
Managing the scale and complexity of railway infrastructure is a challenging task. To do it effectively, ProRail uses Genetec™ Security Center, the unified physical security platform, and Genetec Omnicast™, the video management system (VMS). “We have been working with Genetec solutions for some time now. They help us detect incidents and analyze video from thousands of cameras,” explained Ruiter.
The team at ProRail is also using Genetec Mission Control™, the decision management system and Genetec Clearance™, the digital evidence management system. They also deployed Federation™ to share specific video camera feeds from stations with the Dutch Railways control room. According to Ruiter, “This tool helps us to quickly contact NS and inform them about incidents that could cause threats.”