Reach
Issue 6 2014
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1
Communications
co-operation aids ght
against cable theft
Picture courtesy of Network Rail
B
ritish Transport Police (BTP)
is responsible for policing
Britain’s railways, providing
a service to rail operators, their
staff and the six million passengers
across the country who use the
rail network every day. BTP also
polices the London Underground,
Docklands Light Railway, Emirates
AirLine cable car, the Midland
Metro tram system, Croydon
Tramlink, Sunderland Metro,
and Glasgow Subway.
There are 2,880 BTP of cers,
and their work led to a reduction in
overall crime last year, with a massive
reduction of 47% in cable crime.
In addition to the primary role of
carrying out railway inspections, helping
to combat metal theft is an important
role for the Network Rail helicopters
and Airwave is proud to be assisting the
helicopter crews in their work.
The helicopters are now carrying
cradles and handsets that enable
the crew to communicate directly
with Police control rooms over the
Airwave Network, helping to ensure
faster reactions to incidents.
Previously, the helicopters’ only
means of communication when airborne
was a satellite phone, used to contact
Network Rail’s operations centre if cable
theft was suspected. The satellite phone
was unreliable at times so the crews
needed a facility that enabled direct
communications with the BTP teams
during pre-planned operations.
A xed desktop was also installed
at Network Rail’s national operations
centre, enabling staff to communicate
directly with the helicopters using
the Airwave Service point-to-point
feature. The Network Rail teams
also have access to the BTP sharers
hailing talk group.
“Calls to this talk group will be
responded to by one of our two control
rooms, which can then deploy the
appropriate resources,” says Stuart
Bines, HQ Communications, BTP. “It
means that the helicopters can be
hovering about a mountain in Scotland
and still be in full contact with us.
“There are three talk groups: the
BTP sharers talk group, the BTP
air-to-ground talk group and the BTP
interoperability talk group. This means
that in the event of a major incident,
the helicopter crews can interoperate
with other emergency services using
the BTP interoperability talk group.
“All our BTP-trained air observers
have also been issued with individual
Airwave handsets, so if they are on
pre-planned operations they can y
with them in the aircraft. It is true
communications co-operation.”
Picture courtesy of British Transport Police
