Keeping security on track

Every day, more than 3.5 million people pass through railway stations in Italy. Securing public safety while managing such large flows of users is a continual challenge and remains the primary objective of the police force. Assistance from video surveillance systems, alongside professional displays for monitoring are an essential tool.

Fiverailway stations in Italy are undergoing major modernisation work – Bologna, Florence, Verona, Genoa and Venice – carried out by GrandiStazioni Rail and the Italian railway police (Polfer). The programme to enhance public order and safety, taking place as part of the wider modernisation of the stations, involves the installation of 34 Panasonic professional displays.

“The watchword here is prevention," explains Armando Nanei, head of the Polfer service. "We need to keep up with the times and be able to respond to new safety requirements. Technology is a valuable ally for law enforcement, and video surveillance systems have helped us to reduce theft by 30%."

The Polfer control room previously had a series of video walls based on obsolete rear projection lamp technology. By replacing costly impractical hardware, Polfer is hoping to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) and to streamline maintenance and monitoring procedures.

Integrator AVN Sistemi di Torino installed 34 Panasonic narrow bezel TH-47LFV5W 47” monitors in a standard 3x2configuration, with the exception of Bologna, whose video wall is 5x2.

"Panasonic was chosen to meet some fundamental requirements,” explains Mauro Destro from AVN Sistemi. “The first concerns image quality: we wanted an IPS panel with LED backlighting, local dimming, luminance of 500 cd/m² and a contrast ratio of 1400:1.

"The second requirement is related to the 178° viewing angle, both horizontally and vertically, to ensure that visibility is always high and that staff suffer less visual fatigue during monitoring operations.”

In the previous installation, the layout of the images was directly organised automatically by a server, which made management of the TV cameras impractical and not at all user-friendly.

With the new video wall, each monitor is connected to a maximum of four CCTV cameras and as a result all of the images are managed freely by the operator who, for each monitor on the wall, can choose to view four combined images, two images selected from the four, a single fixed image or four rotating images, as required.

The new system has been received very positively,in particular Emanuele Vittore, Head of IT at Polfer. “The idea of replacing the back projection blocks is really advantageous, because the lamps in the previous blocks that were installed needed frequent, costly maintenance. The Panasonic video walls that we have now do not require any maintenance, and they consume significantly less energy. As a result, in addition to the advantages of a device that guarantees non-stop operation with no unexpected outages, the maintenance and usage costs are not too high.”

Daniela Karakaci, Field Marketing Manager for Italy at Panasonic Visual Systems, said “We are delighted that our displays are providing the police with cutting-edge tools, specifically supporting their job of guaranteeing passenger safety. Reliability, round-the-clock operation and low power consumption are absolutely priority factors in these areas.”