Intelligent Train Station Fire Alarm Systems for Proactive Rail Compliance

Why standard fire alarm systems fail in complex rail environments

The challenge of managing multi-site fire and safety data

Rail infrastructure is an industry with some of the most spread out, yet connected sites. With large stations, tunnels, and extensive cable runs along thousands of miles of track, fires can travel extremely quickly and outrun standard fire safety systems. By the time an alert is received from one location, the fire could have already spread to multiple other locations. This results in extensive damage and operational downtime.

This makes multi-site fire and safety data very ineffective if it is approached with a modular solution.

High false alarm rates and alert fatigue

There is a high presence of dust, dirt and debris throughout many parts of rail infrastructure. Maintenance depots, trackside equipment storage, and tunnels have high concentrations of brake dust, exhaust fumes, metal shavings, and other debris which can trigger false alarms on a regular basis. 

This can cause unwanted operational downtime, multiple train delays, and fire alert fatigue among staff members. Alert fatigue can be very dangerous as it encourages staff members to take fire alarms less seriously, resulting in slower response and evacuation, and the increased chance of fatal incidents.

The struggle for real-time compliance and audit readiness

Ensuring that a railway system is fully compliant with British rail fire safety compliance standards is extremely difficult when relying on siloed data and manual checks. Siloed data on different sites requires on site manual checks that can be time consuming and lead to compliance gaps forming and being overlooked. 

Manual checks are often reported via paperwork for each site. This leads to a lot of different pieces of paperwork that need to be collated and catalogued correctly, in order to remain compliant, as well as the increased potential for human error.

Key Solutions for Train Station Portfolio Management

Critical Alarm Management

Critical alarm management for rail environments enables a facilities manager to monitor the status of all fire safety assets across their portfolio by using a central dashboard. By doing this they can quickly identify issues, plan remedial maintenance to resolve small issues, and gather in-depth data for any fire safety assets that are part of a fire event.

Speeding up emergency response with real-time data

The use of real-time data enables facilities managers to alert emergency services quickly in the case of a fire event. Asset reports also allow a facilities manager to provide in-depth information to attending emergency personnel, enabling them to get to the site of a fire event with prior knowledge of the ongoing situation.

Reducing alert fatigue through smart communication and customisation

Repeated false fire alarms can lead to staff suffering from ‘alert fatigue’. This makes them take genuine fire events less seriously as they become complacent. Alert fatigue often leads to slower evacuations and emergency response, and can even increase the chances of a fatal incident due to a fire.

By anticipating faults that can lead to false alarms, and providing customised notifications for different alarm events, our platform helps to dramatically reduce the number of false alarms and cases of alert fatigue.

Asset Management and Fire Door Compliance

Our solution does not just monitor and control fire alarms. It provides asset management for fire doors and alarms in rail environments, as well as heat sensors, smoke detectors and more. This enables you to view and control all of your fire safety assets from one place. Saving time on compliance tasks and reducing the overall amount of paperwork.

Full visibility and improved budgeting for asset lifecycle

Every fire safety asset across all of your sites can have information on its lifecycle and real-time status displayed. This allows for budgeting that is driven by real-time data, and reports that can be used to support your budget approach.

Digitising fire door and asset inspections with RAG rating

Simplify inspections of the fire safety assets within your portfolio with RAG (Red, Amber, Green) ratings. Fire safety equipment with a red rating requires immediate attention, an amber rating signifies the need for less urgent work, and a green rating indicates that a fire safety asset is in good working order. By using these ratings, you can prioritise more urgent actions, and proceed with them first.

Continuous Compliance and Insight Hubs

Don’t waste time on manual compliance checks and piles of regulatory paperwork. Use the compliance hub to automatically check for non-compliance, update audit trails, and provide guidance in the case of non-compliance. Also access compliance insights and reports easily for regulatory bodies and inspections.

Executive dashboards for board-to-boiler-room decision making

Use an executive dashboard to provide a high-end view of your rail fire safety compliance, to give board members a clear view on where and why money is being spent. And provide technicians with in-depth insights for specific fire safety assets or the assets on a specific site.

How does Drax Technology help with false fire alarms in train stations?

Drax technology helps with false fire alarms in train stations by greatly reducing the amount of them that occur. Through real-time monitoring and proactive maintenance, our platform helps to identify and anticipate minor faults that could lead to false alarms, and take remedial action before they have the chance to progress further.

Is Drax Technology compatible with my existing fire alarm systems?

Yes, our intelligent platform can interlink fire safety assets into one network, regardless of brand, and is compatible with over 50 fire alarm manufacturers.

How do you ensure compliance for fire safety assets like fire doors in a rail portfolio?

You can ensure compliance for fire safety assets like fire doors in a rail portfolio by connecting them to our railway fire safety software. This will then monitor all fire doors in real-time, assign RAG ratings to them, and run automated compliance reports and audit trails for them.

Who is the typical end-user for Drax Technology's platform?

The typical end-user for our platform is the ‘responsible person’ within an organisation. This is usually the facilities manager, compliance manager, or site manager. Though there are many other associated job titles too.