Heathrow Express Portal Security

Heathrow Express Portal Security

Portal security is very important in the current social climate. Tunnels, cuttings and shafts should not be accessible to anyone without the correct authority. It is particularly important to ensure if anyone enters a tunnel it is immediately recognised and reported.

The Portal Security system that Firstco has installed for the Heathrow Express performs this role. Three light beams shine across the cutting at pre-defined heights. If all three beams are broken, a signal is sent to the PLC where the software recognises this as a train passing and no alarm is sent. If either one or both of the lower two beams are broken, an alarm will be immediately displayed on the Tunnel Control System (TCS) in the Heathrow Express Control Room.

A number of CCTV cameras are positioned to capture any event in this area. When an alarm is triggered, a window automatically appears on the TCS which will display footage from the last 5 seconds and therefore show what has triggered the alarm. To aid this, three floodlights are automatically turned on to give better visibility. The CCTV cameras in this area have a particularly high resolution to aid the controllers to ascertain the cause of the alarm.