A new video system is set to improve safety and performance on the railway in Wales, says operator, Transport for Wales.

Transport for Wales has partnered with One Big Circle Ltd to fit cameras on trains to record, and report any vegetation risks on their routes.

This is the first time the technology has been used in this way in the industry.

The Automated Intelligent Video Review system (AIVR) is a device that is fitted inside the window of the train cab and automatically captures video as the train travels across the network.

The technology is designed to measure the changes in infrastructure each time a train runs across the route. Vegetation changes naturally, and these changes can be tracked through early warning heat maps which are used to allocate resources.

Using this new technology, leaf fall, signal sighting and growth can be managed proactively and without the need to put engineers on the track. In poor weather, for example, if a tree had been damaged by winds and was leaning closer to the track than normal, the system would pick this out and alert the management team, before the incident occurs.

The data is transmitted via 4G and is accessed via the cloud.

What did the officials say?

Seasonal planning Manager at Transport for Wales, Rick Fisher, said:

“Our services run over more than 1,000 miles of track so staying up to date with changes to the environment is crucial to running a safe and reliable railway for our customers.

“This technology is a huge leap forward for us and will allow us to work closely with our partners in Network Rail to deal with challenges as they emerge.”

Transport for Wales Safety and Assurance Director Leyton Powell said:

“We first saw this technology in September and were so impressed that we commissioned a trial to cover all routes.

“We’re the first train operator in the UK to deploy the AIVR system on our routes and we’re delighted to be at forefront of using this innovative technology. With management of the Core Valley Lines infrastructure shortly coming under TfW we really think this could make a huge difference to the way we respond to create massive customer, safety and performance benefits.”

Emily Kent, Director of One Big Circle, said:

“We are delighted to be working with Transport for Wales. They quickly saw the benefits that AIVR could bring to their network operations, and their collaborative, open approach means we have rapidly moved from trial stage to formally having AIVR onboard. This clearly demonstrates TfW’s ambitions to harness innovative technologies to help meet their challenges, and we are excited to be delivering this cutting edge video system as well as exploring further innovations with them”

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