Five Italian railway stations reshape their safety system with Panasonic

To Bologna stations, Florence, Verona, Genoa and Venice have endowed them with 34 professional cameras; and Polfer's control rooms have been installed 34 TH-47LFV5W Narrow Edge Monitors 47 inches in a standard 3-inch configuration×2, with the exception of Bologna, whose videowall is 5×2.

More than 3,5 millions of people pass through train stations in Italy every day. Ensuring public safety and managing large user flows is an ongoing challenge and the main objective of the police force.. The help of video surveillance systems, together with professional monitoring screens are a fundamental tool.

The stations of Bologna, Florence, Verona, Genoa and Venice underwent major refurbishment works by GrandiStazioni Rail and the police force in charge of railway safety in Italy, Polfer. The programme to improve public order and security, integrated into a broader station refurbishment plan, includes the installation of 34 professional cameras Panasonic.

“The watchword here is prevention. We need to keep up with the times and be able to respond to new safety requirements. Video surveillance systems have helped us reduce thefts in a 30 %”, explains Armando Nanei, Polfer Service Manager.

In the Polfer control room, a series of video walls based on an obsolete rear-projection lamp technology was used before.. With the replacement of these expensive and impractical devices, Polfer expects to reduce total cost of ownership and simplify maintenance and monitoring procedures.

The integrator AVN Sistemi di Torino installed 34 TH Narrow Edge Monitors- 47LFV5W of 47 Panasonic inches in a standard configuration of 3×2, with the exception of Bologna, whose videowall is 5×2.

“We decided on Panasonic to respond to several fundamental requirements. The first is image quality. We wanted an IPS panel with Led backlight, local attenuation, luminance of 500 cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 1.400:1. The second requirement is related to the viewing angle of 178°, both horizontally and vertically, to ensure high visibility at all times and reduce workers' eye strain during supervisory operations”, comments Mauro Destro, by AVN Sistemi.

In the previous installation, the arrangement of the images was automatically organized directly by a server, which made it difficult to manage television cameras, and the system was not intuitive at all.

With the new videowall, each monitor connects to a maximum of four CCTV cameras and, as a result, all images are freely managed by the operator, that you can choose to view on each wall monitor four combined images, two images selected from the four, a single still image or four rotating images.

“The idea of replacing the rear-projection blocks is very advantageous, because the lamps of the previous ones required frequent and expensive maintenance. The Panasonic videowalls that we have now do not require any type of maintenance and consume much less. As a result, we have achieved a device that guarantees uninterrupted operation without unforeseen blackouts, In addition, maintenance and usage costs are not too high”, clarifies Emanuele Vittore, Director of Information Technology at Polfer.

“We are delighted that our screens provide the police with state-of-the-art tools, especially to ensure the safety of passengers. Reliability, uninterrupted operation and low electricity consumption are absolutely priority factors in these areas”, indicates Daniela Karakaci, product manager of Panasonic Visual Systems Italy.

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