MVG provides one of the most modern transport systems in the world. More than 500 million passengers travel every year via bus, tram and six subway lines over a network of 95 kilometers with 100 stations and nearly 580 subway cars in Munich alone. Early in 2008, a call for bids was made to equip the subway trains and streetcars with a video surveillance system. “In this case we had a special requirement that the solution had to run entirely via Ethernet and therefore be integrated into the existing Ethernet of the train units,” said Kurt Stern, Head of Traffic Telematics for Stadtwerke München.
MVG provides one of the most modern transport systems in the world. More than 500 million passengers travel every year via bus, tram and six subway lines over a network of 95 kilometers with 100 stations and nearly 580 subway cars in Munich alone. Early in 2008, a call for bids was made to equip the subway trains and streetcars with a video surveillance system. “In this case we had a special requirement that the solution had to run entirely via Ethernet and therefore be integrated into the existing Ethernet of the train units,” said Kurt Stern, Head of Traffic Telematics for Stadtwerke München.
The Munich-based company Indanet won the bid and was commissioned to equip 358 subway cars and 88 streetcars with a digital video surveillance system. Jurgen Fuchs, Indanet's GM responsible for business development, describes the selection criteria for the cameras. “We wanted a compact, rugged network camera with railway approval for our customers that was easy to install and configure. Of course, it also had to support high-quality video which can be entered as evidence in court to identify offenders.”
Axis has a special camera in its portfolio for this purpose. The palm-sized network camera is noted for its robustness and delivers high-quality digital video images in spite of the rocking and shaking and the high humidity in mass transportation vehicles.
MVG is pleased with the result. “An example of a manhunt was the investigation into property damage caused by graffiti on December 5, 2010 in streetcar 17. The perpetrator and the act were recorded on camera. The images were published in the internal investigation records of the Munich police, which finally led to a policeman's recognizing the perpetrator just days later,” said Harald Pickert, Head of the Crime Division, Police Headquarters, Munich.
“The Munich police welcome SWM/MVG's gradual expansion of video surveillance in the Munich subway trains, buses and trams. In addition to the preventative aspect, the curbing of crime, video surveillance also makes an indispensable contribution to the criminal investigation and identification of perpetrators. The better the images, the more chances we have for successful search and identification operations,“ said Harald Pickert, Head of the Crime Division, Police Headquarters, Munich.