Staff safety and customer service will be boosted across Sydney’s rail network with the deployment of SafeZone, a safety, security and emergency management solution from CriticalArc. The technology will enable Sydney Trains to manage a wide range of situations, including mitigating risks to staff and customers and strengthening the capacity to respond to incidents and emergencies across the network.

SafeZone will put up to 2,500 of Sydney Trains’ front-line staff directly in touch with security control room teams, letting them summon immediate assistance at the touch of a button via their assigned smartphone.

The investment in SafeZone will cover more than 175 stations across the greater Sydney area and is the latest step in a modernization drive to transform Sydney Trains’ operations, with more than a million customer journeys taken on the network every weekday. Across its transportation network, Sydney Trains will now have real-time situational awareness, and a more complete picture of critical events.

“Sydney Trains is committed to fulfilling our duty of care to all of our staff and enhancing our high safety standards in order to maintain and enrich customer service levels on station platforms,” explains Mark Edmonds, manager of security capability, Network Operations. “Employing proven technology such as SafeZone will help us solve day-to-day challenges, further improving the safety of our staff and helping them work more effectively to continue to deliver world-class service.”