Norwich Bus Station

Norwich bus station is the most advanced of its kind in the country, with state-of-the-art ticket machines and real time passenger information.

On average, the bus station sees 7,800 bus movements, 200,000 passengers boarding and the information centre helps 21,000 people per week.

The bus station cost £5m to build. The development was part of the County Councils £9.5m Government funded scheme to improve the bus network in and around Norwich. The Public Transport Major Scheme provides a better network of bus lanes around the city, public transport interchange at the railway station, ticket machines and improved passenger information and waiting facilities.

PEL was pleased to be chosen to provide the passenger information system due to their proven expertise in providing sound solutions.

The specification required announcements, both live and recorded, to be broadcast to any combination or all of the twelve bus stands along with music.

Norwich Bus Station Touchscreen Software

For ease of use, touch screens located in key areas provide a graphical representation of the bus station and enable control of the system. The PC based front end stores and routes any number of stored messages to the bus stands, along with storing over a 1000 hours of music. Automatic operation of stored messages and music may be interrupted at any time for live announcements to be broadcast.

After amplification, using proven Cloud multi-amplifiers in a convenient single housing, the loudspeakers used were specially designed and commissioned by PEL in cooperation with Macemain, the bus stand manufacturers, to fit into their vandal-resistant housings.

Being PC based, the system is infinitely expandable and adaptable, allowing for changes of stored messages and music used. The system will also allow for ‘construct messaging’ where key words may be assembled into a message and broadcast.

For further details, please contact PEL on 020 8839 2100 or visit www.pel.co.uk.

Norwich Bus Station Software Screenshot

Norwich Bus Station Aerial Shot

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Woolwich Arsenal Station

PEL Services Ltd, one of the UK’s foremost providers of commercial sound and communication systems, has completed the contract to supply and commission a substantial voice alarm and public address system at the new Woolwich Arsenal station.

Woolwich Arsenal station is an extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Woolwich town centre and will provide a much needed alternative crossing of the River Thames.  The new station has been designed to a very high quality, incorporating modern passenger facilities.

The voice alarm system is clearly a very important aspect of these facilities. To provide excellent audibility in such a demanding environment, PEL Services is using a Bosch Praesidio digital public address and emergency sound system. Bosch Praesidio is ideal for this installation as it’s unique optical network offers total freedom in system design, interference free audio and a high level of redundancy.  Furthermore, all the equipment can be contained in one rack – a very important consideration when space is at a premium.
PEL Services has installed the voice alarm system with Penton column speakers in the concourse and Penton projection speakers on the platforms.  There is also a zoned station microphone located within the station operations room (SOR) for general announcements, plus local station microphones located within the passenger emergency points (PEP), for use by station staff at platform level.

A fully programmable system, PEL has interfaced the Bosch Praesidio with the fire alarm system and incorporated ambient noise sensing throughout to adjust the Customer Information Systems announcements to cope with changing noise levels, whilst ensuring that the fire alarms remain at a pre set level for complete safety.
The new voice evacuation system at Woolwich Arsenal station is part of the Long Line Public Address (LLPA) system for DLR, which allows messages to be obtained from a pre-programmed standard suite and be quickly assembled.  There is also scratch-pad for the operators to assemble messages for later transmission or be produced directly from a microphone.  Announcements can be sent simultaneously to all stations, groups of stations or individual stations.  A dedicated workstation in the Network control Room (Poplar) facilitates these.

PEL Services was awarded the contract by Transmitten (Siemens) to supply and commission the voice alarm system at Woolwich Arsenal station as a result of the company’s extensive experience in working in Section 12 stations, i.e. sub surface.  PEL has already proved itself in Section 12 stations from installations for Mersey Rail and Thames Link and is both experienced and well equipped to meet the demanding set of standards to which all Station 12 installations must comply.

For sales information please contact PEL Services Ltd on 020 8839 2100 or go to www.pel.co.uk.

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DLR 3-Car Project

First opened in 1987, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) has been central to the regeneration of London’s East End. Since its inception, when PEL Services Limited designed, supplied and installed all the public address and passenger announcement systems, the network has been extended to serve the business and financial district centred on Canary Wharf, tunnelled into the City to connect with Bank Station and extended to the south to connect with Lewisham. The more recent extension to serve the London City Airport is currently being extended further to connect with Woolwich Arsenal, where PEL has recently supplied a new Bosch Public Address and Voice Alarm system and a further extension is planned to provide an alternative route from Canning Town to Stratford.

Passenger use has grown massively and the network carries over 60 million passengers each year and this is expected to rise to 80 million by 2009. Furthermore the DLR is expected to provide an efficient key transport link to the 2012 Olympic Games.

To meet these demands, the network infrastructure is being modified to enable the use of 3-car trains, greatly enhancing the passenger capacity of the railway. This project is currently ongoing and is expected to be finished in 2010.

Specialist Contractor

Having been a specialist contractor for DLR since its inception PEL is responsible for the Sound Communications Network that announces passenger information at all of the stations on the railway.

Using Ditra infrastructure, announcements are stored and retrieved automatically from a central control then transmitted to the relevant station to be decoded and broadcast over the local loudspeaker system.

The whole of the railway’s infrastructure is being extended and PEL is currently tasked with upgrading the Sound Communications Network.

This involves the installation and commissioning of loudspeaker arrays to provide sound coverage on platforms once they have been extended to accept 3-Car trains as well as the installation and commissioning of new sound equipment outstations, amplification and loudspeaker arrays in new and refurbished stations.

A project of this nature requires close support and cooperation with many interested parties. Working as a team, this includes:

• Closely liaising with the principle contractor and electrical sub-contractor to ensure the project progresses smoothly and is delivered on time

• Providing detailed drawings, technical specifications and methodology

• Conducting environmental tests to ensure broadcast sound is not a nuisance to local residence and falls within the remit of each station’s planning application.

• Providing client familiarisation and training to DLR’s maintenance teams

In order for the Sound Communication System to be effective, it has been designed in such a way that station announcements can be clearly heard on the platforms yet mitigating the nuisance effect of  overspill to local residents.

This time critical project demands a level of experience and dedicated resource that few organisations can truly offer. Over 30 years of supplying such systems to railway networks throughout the UK and Eire makes PEL Services Limited an ideal choice to support a project of this nature.

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