May 09, 2016

Certain bad situations, while uncommon, may still crop up from time to time within subway systems. For example, while they are quite rare, fires occasionally occur within rapid transit networks. This happened in Seoul, South Korea's metro system in 2013, and it was a situation the Washington, D.C., Metro dealt with in 2015 as well. However, with a high-quality video surveillance system underpinned by a robust network in place, subway authorities can more quickly spot fires and get people out of harm's way.

Lessons learned from U.S. Capital

The Metrorail, the subway and rail system operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, operates on 118 miles of tracks in two states plus the District of Columbia. It is one of the busiest public transit networks in North America, having provided up to 782,000 rides a day in 2015.

One of the biggest hubs in the Metrorail system is L'Enfant Plaza Station. Located near the National Mall, the station is where five of the six Metrorail lines converge. Because of its central location, when disaster strikes in or near L'Enfant Plaza Station, it can have significant consequences.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened in January 2015. Just south of L'Enfant Plaza Station, the powered third rail caused an electrical fire, which then filled a nearby stopped car with smoke, Reuters reported. All told, one person died and 91 were injured in the incident.

While the Metro did have existing safeguards and related protocols in place, the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board said not enough was done both before and during the incident to mitigate the eventual fallout, The Washington Post reported. One of the reasons the problem escalated, according to U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.), was because the Metro used trains to investigate the situation as it unfolded.

In addition, the Post stated that communication breakdowns led to emergency crews arriving late to the scene. Not only did the first 911 call come in later than expected, but first responders were initially told to enter the wrong tunnel when they first arrived at the scene. All told, over 30 minutes elapsed between when smoke first filled the passenger car and when riders were escorted out.

Video's role in protecting subway systems

Perhaps if the Metro had a different video surveillance system at the time, it may have been able to respond more quickly and appropriately to the January 2015 incident. With such a system in place, train conductors can see what is ahead of them before pulling into a station, to make sure conditions ahead of the train are clear and unencumbered. Video surveillance can be critical for first responders as well, providing them with real-time insights regarding what's happening at the track level throughout the public transit system.

For example, a major fire in 2003 led the Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation to install a new video surveillance system. After the incident, Seoul subway authorities wanted to make sure that train conductors had the ability to see what conditions were like on the tracks and in the stations in front of it, even as subway cars traveled up to 50 miles per hour.

To achieve such a video surveillance network, authorities there had 1,000 Firetide wireless mesh nodes installed. This infrastructure supports 650 cameras in total – 300 in trains and 350 in stations – along four main subway lines. Now, authorities can be sure that the more than 2 million people who ride these four lines every day are adequately protected from harm.

"Firetide was selected because no other vendor's wireless mesh equipment could provide the high-speed performance required to deliver streaming video from the station to moving rail cars and operate in one of harshest of environments for RF networks," said Jung Yeong-Hyun, project manager of Global Telecom. "We were also tremendously impressed with Firetide's sophisticated regional support organization that understood the difficulties posed by the subway system."

Fires and other major calamities, while generally rare, do sometimes occur. Unless the proper actions are taken swiftly, lives are at risk. A video surveillance system can go a long way toward keeping public transit employees and riders safe from harm, and ensuring that first responders have the information they need should disaster strike. Subway officials eager to learn more about video surveillance and their available options can contact representatives from Firetide.