| 9,000 surveillance cameras will be installed across Madrid's public bus service |
The Municipal Transport Company of Madrid (EMT) has chosen Axis Communications, the global leader in the network video market, to deliver network surveillance cameras for Madrid's public bus service. EMT has chosen Axis to help support its aim to become Europe's best public transport company. The €20 million project will involve the installation of more than 9,000 cameras in 2,300 buses.
The surveillance system includes high resolution real time recording and monitoring, and also features a panic button which is connected to EMT's Central Alarm Station. In the event of an emergency the Control Centre Operator can notify the relevant emergency service. Each bus also includes GPS so it is easy to locate the bus quickly.
The network surveillance cameras have already been installed in 400 buses, and it's expected that all buses will support the technology by the end of this year. The tender was won by a consortium formed by Spanish IT and security companies - GRUPO ETRA, IECISA and PLETTAC who presented a project based on Axis network cameras and video encoders.
Each bus will include three AXIS M3113-R network cameras and one AXIS Q7401 video encoder |
The cameras also offer H.264 and motion JPG compression formats. H.264 compression optimises bandwidth use (critical for 3G mobile communications) and storage requirements by considerably reducing the binary speed. The cameras also support standard Power over Ethernet and can be integrated with other devices and security systems.
Juan Luis Brizuela, Axis Communications Iberia Country Manager said: "This project presented us with a challenge which resulted in a new range of cameras that are well suited to the demands of public transport. We look forward to continuing to work with the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid this year and completing Europe's leading transport surveillance solution."
Ignacio Uría, Head of the VEA System Implementation Project (Security Department of EMT) said: "For this pioneering project, it has been very important to be able to rely on a camera vendor such as Axis Communications, which has demonstrated a proven ability to support its customers closely. Axis took full account of our previous experience with onboard video surveillance and the specifications of the bus fleet. The network cameras are ideally suited to our project's objectives, and we believe that, in view of the similarities between urban bus transport systems, they could be well-suited to the majority of transport systems in Spain, or the world."