Singapore Transport Authority enhances critical railway infrastructure with optical LAN | Computer Weekly

For modern transport systems, operating a real-time surveillance system that is highly available, reliable and secure is vital to ensuring the safety of those travelling. To achieve these objectives in Singapore, the local transit authority has deployed Nokia IP/MPLS and fibre optical local area network (LAN) solutions.

The Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA) spearheads land transport developments in the city state, with the stated responsibility to plan, design, build and maintain land transport infrastructure and systems. Since the inception of LTA in 1995, the land transport network has transformed significantly, with more than 160km of expressways spanning the island, an MRT network of more than 200 km, over 600 km of cycling paths and park connectors and increasingly varied commuting options.

The LTA said it aspires to strengthen Singapore’s land transport connectivity and integrate a greener and more inclusive public transport system complemented by walk and cycle options, using technology to strengthen its rail and bus infrastructure and develop “exciting” options for future land transport.

The technology installation is part of video surveillance upgrade to its critical railway infrastructure for which CCTV cameras are regarded as playing a crucial role within the LTA railway system. With CCTV cameras placed across more than 50 stations, the LTA needed a network infrastructure that could meet its growing capacity demands providing real-time monitoring and video surveillance services that ensure public safety, help spot illegal activities and manage traffic patterns.

Working in partnership with Hitachi Rail, Nokia was confident that its solutions will enable the LTA to significantly enhance its CCTV network used across Singapore’s heavily used railway system serving millions of passengers per day.

To support its expanding network cameras and growing bandwidth requirements, the LTA deployed Nokia’s fibre optical LAN including hardened optical network units (ONUs) and optical light terminals (OLTs) capable of supporting data transmission speeds of 25Gbps. The optical LAN requires up to 70% less cabling and 40% less power compared with traditional copper-based LAN networks. Nokia claims that its IP/MPLS deployment also enables LTA to more effectively backhaul the network data traveling to its operations control centre where live video streams are viewed and stored. 

Commenting on the deployment, Stuart Hendry, vice-president of enterprise sales and network infrastructure for Asia Pacific at Nokia, said: “Fibre is being used to connect everything, including video systems that are critical to monitoring transportation hubs around the world. Partnering with Hitachi Rail, we were able to deliver a complete solution for LTA that would ensure they had the video capacity needed to serve their expansive CCTV surveillance and broader network operations for years to come.”

Joaquim Santos, vice-president of integrated communication and supervision solutions (ICS) at Hitachi Rail, added: “We are pleased to have selected Nokia to collaborate with Hitachi Rail in enhancing passenger safety and security across Singapore’s railway network, which is a continuation of Hitachi’s long-term relationship with LTA. This project will play a key role in upgrading the transport infrastructure.”

As it was making the Singapore LTA optical LAN deployment, Nokia announced the launch of its 1830 Photonic Service Switch-High Capacity (PSS-HC) shelves, a next-generation addition to the 1830 PSS optical transport platform family. The new shelves are designed to deliver up to three times higher density with up to 60% lower power consumption per bit, enabling service providers to more cost-effectively scale their networks.