Following their success with tunnel radio and safety communications systems for the Roherhithe and Blackwall tunnels, Tyco’s Traffic & Transportation group has won another major tunnel contract worth over £100,000. This latest contract is to equip the new Baldock Tunnel for Hertfordshire County Council with Emergency Services Radio Re-broadcast and Loudspeaker Public Address systems to provide safety and evacuation messaging in the event of an emergency. Tyco’s Traffic & Transportation Group was previously called Tyco Integrated Systems and has now been re-branded and re-named as part of Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions.
The new Baldock Tunnel is an approximately 220m long cut and cover tunnel which will allow traffic to by-pass Baldock. It is due to open in August 2006.
The radio system includes re-broadcast of emergency services radio channels for the police, fire and ambulance to provide seamless coverage throughout the tunnel both for routine communications and for emergency co-ordination. These include low band for Fire vehicles, UHF for local fire brigade communications in the tunnel and VHF high band for ambulances and police as well as the latest BT Airwave radio system for the police.
Emergency PA messages can also be broadcast automatically or manually by loudspeaker public address throughout the tunnel to provide safety guidance and warnings to allow safer evacuation if required. According to TTS, this is one of the first tunnels to feature the use of high performance Duran horn loudspeakers which provide improved sound coverage using fewer loudspeakers. Pre-recorded voice messages can be triggered automatically by tunnel traffic sensors to warn drivers of incidents or emergencies.
The communications system is being designed, supervised and commissioned by Tyco for the main system contractor P. Ducker Systems who are responsible for the overall tunnel electrical and control systems supply and integration, on behalf of the M&E contractor VVB Engineering Services. Main Contractor for the project is Norwest Holst.
TTS has already developed extensive expertise in tunnel radio and loudspeaker public address for other major tunnels and the company sees this as a major growth area as tunnel safety becomes increasingly important across Europe and elsewhere.
“We have already developed sophisticated tunnel solutions for radio re-broadcast for both emergency services and private communications as well as public radio including the latest DAB radio broadcasts with radio break-in to car radios for emergency messages,” said Phill Ford, Regional General Manager of the Traffic & Transportation group, “Together with our expertise in public address and loudspeaker systems, this puts Tyco in a unique position to provide solutions to road tunnels, rail tunnels and metro systems,” he added.
Tyco Traffic and Transportation Group is a leading international supplier of integrated solutions involving CCTV, PA, Paging, Wireless Communications and Congress systems. The group’s CCTV systems are widely used on the UK motorway network, in London’s mainline railway stations and for major traffic schemes in London including the London congestion charging system. Tyco’s expertise in integrated systems involving CCTV, PA and Radio Break-in are increasing used in major road tunnel projects including the Dartford, Blackwall and Baldock tunnels in the UK. Tyco’s Congress systems are widely used by local and national governments as well as by major international agencies requiring high quality conference facilities for large numbers of delegates and multi-language translation facilities. See www.tycotraffic.com
