Firstco delivers new control room
Firstco delivers new control room on time and on budget
Relocating a fully operational control room is a risky business, especially when all testing and moves are restricted to a 4-hour night time window. However, by fully engaging with the client and applying their considerable expertise to the technical and planning aspects of the project, Firstco successfully relocated the control room with no loss of revenue service.
Background
Heathrow Express Control Room (HECR) looks after all the service and operations for the Heathrow Express rail service. As part of the ongoing development of Heathrow they were required to vacate their existing Control Room and move to a temporary location (also designed and delivered by Firstco) before returning to the completely refurbished new control room 18 months later.
Firstco Role
The design for the new HECR had to be flexible, maintainable and above all future-proof, ready for the integration of the new Terminal 5 station.
The three-position control room allows each operator to have full control and monitoring of all sub-systems via a single fully integrated workstation. Systems monitored and controlled include CCTV, PA, Customer Information, Train Information, Tunnel Emergency Ventilation etc.
Firstco designed all aspects of the communications infrastructure, desk and video wall layout. The design included formation of a communications closet to house all of the active equipment thus freeing the desks from unnecessary cables and clutter.