A large intermodal rail freight operator in the UK, Freightliner, wanted to enable staff to quickly search vital footage to enhance security surveillance at its Manchester terminal. This should take advantage of an IP-Surveillance system to assist with operations around the site and to monitor the arrival of containers at the terminal by road and rail.

Following successful deployment of IP-Surveillance systems at many of its other sites in the UK, the organization turned to IP solutions specialists NW Systems Group to provide the cameras for this terminal. They had already successfully upgraded the surveillance systems across many of Freightliner other sites at a rate of two terminals per year. Here too they deployed a range of Axis network video cameras, all specifically chosen to deliver the required image quality, even for night time surveillance.

The company, part of the Freightliner Group which employs 1,800 staff, has 170 locomotives and more than 3,000 wagons, moves up to 3,000 containers per day. There are 13 terminals throughout the UK and surveillance is extremely important for operational monitoring purposes. Previously, each terminal relied upon standalone analog CCTV, but following the successful upgrade to network video at some of its other sites, the Manchester terminal also wanted to upgrade to network video because locating footage on VHS tapes was a laborious process and the image quality provided by the analog CCTV system was frequently poor and unusable. Andy Murphy, Deputy General Manager, Terminals said: "In the past, searching for a specific piece of footage was extremely time-consuming. We needed a solution that would allow us to speed up this process and share footage electronically with others quickly and easily."

Who Dunnit
Thirteen Axis 211 and P1343 network cameras have been installed in strategic locations to record registration plates and container IDs as vehicles arrive and leave the terminal. They are also used for security purposes at the terminal gates. Some 233D and 232D+ network dome cameras provide the terminal's managers with an overview of operations across the site and the P3343-VE network camera records images of the drivers. The signal from these cameras is processed using Axis Camera Station, an IP surveillance software that provides video monitoring and recording for up to 50 cameras, with the facility to search and view essential footage.

The terminal's managers now have a prime view of the terminal and can quickly respond to emergencies and distribute resources around the terminal as required. They have also found that the number of claims for damaged containers has gone down. The site's managers can now quickly access the high-quality images delivered by the Axis cameras over the network and check the footage much more quickly than on the older system to establish if a claim is genuine or if the container was already damaged on arrival, which either proves or disproves liability. The images can now be monitored remotely and shared across the Internet with other sites.

Resourceful
From an operational perspective, the improvement in surveillance also significantly helps to improve health and safety around the site by allowing the terminal staff to react to any emergencies. Andy Murphy explains: "All of our cameras have motion detection which allows our operators to monitor in real time when a situation arises. We can then take the appropriate action to deal with the issue. The cameras have helped us to streamline our operations. For example, we can now monitor traffic queues at the gates and it also helps us plan the allocation of equipment around the site, as the cameras can monitor what is needed at a specific location.

The quality of the footage has also greatly improved: "The image quality is excellent and the night time images have also surprised us. Running the system in-house coupled with the quality and durability of the cameras and software, means that our maintenance costs have been significantly reduced. All in all, we are very impressed with the quality of the Axis surveillance system and the installation carried out by NW Systems Group," concludes Andy Murphy.