The Project



Tyne and Wear currently has the highest rate of growth of car ownership in the UK. Nexus, the co-ordinating body responsible for executing the polices of the Passenger Transport Authority in Tyne and Wear, are committed to reducing dependency on car use through integration and easing the physical interchange between transport services. As part of this commitment Nexus have invested £39 Million into the Metro project, the aims of which, are to promote public transport to a quantity and quality which contributes to the social fabric and economic prosperity of Tyne and Wear. The Tyne and Wear Metro is a network of fifty-eight railway stations spread across five local authorities (LA's), Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland. It provides a similar service to the London Underground albeit on a smaller scale.

A major part of the £39M investment has been invested in a 'cutting edge' open transport network (OTN) digital CCTV solution providing reassurance to passengers who use the Metro that they can travel safely throughout the network, which is monitored by the system. Working in partnership with the Northumbria Police the scheme links over 500 cameras installed in 58 stations to 6 Control Centres, (one in each of the 5 LA's and the Metro Command Centre) and two Police stations.

Press release of official opening

Name Issue File Size (KB) File
Nexus Project Brochure 01 2,335
What the Meyertech system delivers


To implement the scheme Nexus chose Meyertech's ZoneVu Integrated CCTV Hardware. This routes and controls the camera images from each station to the LA and Metro control rooms. Additionally to manage the system at an operational level Nexus selected FUSION, Meyertech's CCTV Management Software suite.

Each station on the Metro network has a number of Fixed, PTZ and Dome cameras, which monitor all the public areas. Help points are also provided which when accessed raise an alarm in the associated LA and Metro control rooms providing images of the caller and direct voice communication. Station cameras are monitored 24/7 from a FUSION work station located in a dedicated control room in their respective LA's.

Using FUSION operators can, with the assistance of graphical maps of the LA rail network and station layouts, navigate, display and control any system camera or dome.


To view the maps in normal resolution right click the image and zoom in once
Fusion CCTV Management Software
Fusion CCTV Management Software


FUSION is a suite of Windows software applications developed to manage CCTV installations more effectively. This is achieved through a GUI incorporating site maps, building plans,camera icons and CCTV control functions from which the operator 'manages' the installation.

Alarms and other functions can also be monitored by FUSION providing homogeneous management over multiple disparate CCTV installations. Installed in some of Europe's largest and most sophisticated CCTV control rooms, FUSION delivers new levels of system integration and management.

The Metro control room is the command centre for the whole of the Metro rail network and can access any camera, on any station, in any LA.
The innovative architecture of the ZoneVu system allows operators in one LA to view and control cameras in another LA when the need arises as in a serious incident. In practice this is achieved through FUSION. Users are configured into groups E.G. Operators, Supervisors. Which group the user is associated with when they log-on will determine which LA maps they have access to.

Of the many benefits the Meyertech system brings to the Tyne and Wear Metro, one of the most useful is the ability to actively monitor and track any suspect from station to station and on into Town. This is achieved through ZoneVu integration of the disparate Town Centre systems installed in each LA.

At each control room every system operation is logged by FUSION-EDIT, a software auditing application that is part of the FUSION software suite. This allows management reports (using MS Office), to be produced detailing system usage and alarm events.
Nexus: a technical summary
Nexus


Metro stations
Each station employs a ZoneVu ZSC site controller to manage the data communications between local equipment and the OTN. ZoneVu ZVP-VDA1-3 VDAs distribute the camera signals to the local DVR system and a Multiplexer which, controlled by the ZVS-MSI-23 is used to route camera images in any format from MSC to full-screen onto the OTN. All cameras and Domes incorporate anti-vandal and video loss monitoring by the ZSC, which will report the alarm to the associated LA and Metro control room. ZoneVu ZVR-530 telemetry receivers employed to control the PTZ cameras incorporate a Serial Integration Port (SIP) to communicate directly with the camera.

LA Control rooms
The five LA control rooms incorporate a ZoneVu ZSC-1000 site controller which is employed to manage the data communications between local equipment and the
OTN. A minimum of four video signals are presented to the Town centre system matrix, under the control of the ZSC-1000, for display onto control room monitors selected from the FUSION workstation. A FUSION workstation consists of a Pentium PC, a 15-inch LCD Touchscreen monitor and a ZVK-77D system keyboard

Metro Command Centre
At the Metro Command Centre a ZoneVu ZSC-1000 site controller is employed to manage the data communications between local equipment and the OTN. It also integrates the Atomic Rugby clock signal to provide time synchronisation for equipment throughout the entire system. A ZSC-500 integrates the OTN video routing computer. Thirty-two video signals are available from the OTN for display on the command centre's video-wall. Selection and control of cameras is managed by FUSION.

Digital CCTV network
The OTN provides Gigabit bandwidth over which the Meyertech ZoneVu ZSC site controllers communicate to provide a fully distributed hierarchical topology. This topology is designed such that the operational loss of individual sites (stations) does not affect the operation of the remainder of the system. Video, audio and data are transmitted from each station providing camera images, camera control and voice communication to the six control rooms.