At the Lillestrøm coach station in Norway, Akershus Kollektivterminaler has combined comprehensive video surveillance with edge AI, intelligent search capabilities and a central management platform. As well as providing a better overview of passenger and traffic areas, the new security architecture is designed in particular to reduce blind spots at the coach bays and speed up the investigation of incidents.
Large transport hubs place high demands on video security. Passengers move between vehicles and platforms, buses arrive and depart at short intervals, whilst indoor areas, access routes and outdoor spaces must all be reliably monitored. For operators, it is therefore increasingly insufficient simply to record video footage. What is required are systems that make relevant events easier to locate, support operational processes and can be scaled out to additional sites.
Akershus Kollektivterminaler (AKT FKF) also faced this challenge. The company operates central bus and ferry terminals in the Oslo region, including the Oslo Bus Terminal and the Aker Brygge ferry terminal. According to the operator, these transport facilities handle more than 450,000 passenger movements every day. At Lillestrøm Bus Station, the video surveillance system was therefore modernised using an AI-powered solution from VIVOTEK. The implementation was carried out by the system integrator Nimbus Fiber AS in collaboration with the Norwegian distributor Vicon Norway AS.
Wider coverage and fewer blind spots
Inside the terminal, CC9391-HV 180-degree panoramic cameras provide a wide-angle overview of the passenger areas. IB9387-EHTV-V3 cameras are used for outdoor surveillance. Among other things, they monitor bus stop areas, staff car parks and zones behind the buses, which are only partially visible to drivers.
The cameras feature edge AI capabilities. Analysis data is thus generated at device level and transmitted to the central infrastructure alongside the video information. The VAST Security Station (VSS) serves as a unified operating and management interface.
A key component is AI-assisted searching of recorded video footage. Using VIVOTEK Deep Search, operators can narrow down relevant sequences based on people, vehicles and other metadata. This can significantly simplify the retrospective investigation of security incidents, particularly when dealing with large volumes of data, and reduce the need for manual review of long periods of recorded footage.
Camera images directly at the bus platform
A distinctive feature of the installation concerns the 16 bus platforms in total. RX9502 video receivers are deployed there, providing drivers with real-time images of the area behind the respective bus. The aim is to reduce blind spots when pulling away and thus minimise the risk to passengers and other people in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle.
The transmission takes place via RTSP. Instead of traditional workstation PCs, compact video receivers are used to display the camera images. This reduces the number of components that need to be managed and maintained during operation.
This application in particular demonstrates that video surveillance at transport hubs does not have to serve solely the purpose of retrospectively documenting incidents. Here, camera images are directly integrated into operational processes and support specific safety-related decisions made by the driver.
Centralised architecture for additional sites
The technical infrastructure is also designed to accommodate future expansion. It is based on a VIVOTEK NVR within a VSS server environment. In the future, additional terminals can be connected to the central platform via OpenVPN. Lillestrøm could thus serve as a central hub for managing additional sites.
There are also plans to integrate VORTEX Connect. This should enable additional access options and AI services to be incorporated in future without having to fundamentally alter the existing system architecture.
This approach is of particular significance for operators of distributed transport infrastructures. Rather than operating individual sites as separate video systems, cameras, recordings, metadata and analysis functions can increasingly be consolidated into a single shared platform. This not only simplifies centralised situational assessment but also lays the technical foundation for a phased expansion of the security infrastructure.
According to AKT, the project focused both on the safety of passengers, drivers and staff, and on the long-term scalability of the system.
The deployment in Lillestrøm thus illustrates a trend that is becoming increasingly important for transport hubs in general: video surveillance is evolving from mere image recording into an operational security system. Edge analysis speeds up data evaluation, intelligent search functions facilitate investigations, and real-time footage can contribute directly to preventing hazardous situations. The key factor here is not so much the individual camera as the interplay between sensor technology, analysis and central system architecture.
[ML]
