Alstom East Anglia Southern
Onwave OWL Geofencing technology is enhancing safety on the re-signalling upgrade project for Eastern Anglia
When Alstom was exploring how they could keep their track worker teams safe, the innovative solution offered by Onwave OWL was deemed an ideal safety tool for them to use on a major project they had been selected under tender to deliver.
Alstom created a list of requirements for Geofencing technology which included:
- Enhancing situational awareness for track workers
- Prevention of people/plant interface
- Geotagging of asset boards
- Enhancing situational awareness for track workers
- Monitoring productivity on renewal works
- The location and tracking of engineering trains entering a possession site
- Monitoring the safety of less experienced team members, who are more likely to stray from safe working zones
About the Upgrade at Cambridge
The upgrade at Cambridge is a major re-signalling project, it aims to replace the existing signalling system with a modern, state-of-the-art signalling technology which means better reliability for passengers and reduced maintenance.
Alstom is committed to ensuring they keep their employees safe, so as part of a geofencing trial, they implemented the use of OWL wearable geofencing devices for all track workers on this project.
Alstom deploys ambitious programmes to reach a clear target: prevent incidents and eliminate all severe incidents.
How OWL for Alstom works
Assets are tagged with devices – this means all equipment can be viewed via the OWL portal. The tagged equipment include engineering trains, marker boards, RRVs and track trolleys.
The Geofences are set up and verified by Onwave and our planners – this data is then downloaded onto the wearable devices given to the workers. As the track workers go about their duties– the devices alert them should they step out of the pre-defined geofenced boundaries of safe working areas.
Onwave’s OWL Project Manager was on hand to assist with training, device set up and to offer advice and guidance to the Alstom team during initial deployments.
All tagged equipment and track workers are visible on via the portal, Alstom can check at any point the exact location of teams, this means both safety, productivity and the whereabouts of equipment is available in real-time.
Results and Feedback
The feedback from track workers, and the team managing the project has been overwhelmingly positive.
“As Humans we make mistakes, we stray from safe working zones. When my team is out on the track with their OWL wearable geofencing devices, I know they have an additional layer of safety. They know Alstom has a clear objective – Everyone Home Safe Every Day and having geofencing tech helps us achieve this. I can see other use cases for this technology – including exclusion zones around hazards such as Asbestos. I look forward to continuing this work with the Onwave team to further develop OWL. The team we have worked with at Onwave, are rail experts and that really helps when it comes to a project of this size.”
Lewis Johnson – Alstom Regional Health & Safety Manager Eastern/Northern/ Ang
Alstom are exploring further global rail projects that can use Onwave OWL to keep track workers safe.