Thales GTS has welcomed the announcement by the Department for Transport (DfT) that its innovative Intruder Detection System for rail, developed in collaboration with Focus Sensors, has been awarded funding.

The funding is being made available through the DfT’s First of a Kind 2022 innovation competition which this year focused on new concepts that will transform rail travel for passengers and decarbonise the network.

Thales GTS and specialist-SME Focus Sensors have worked together to develop a solution which utilises fibre-optic cables along key railway lines. The system is known as the FOAS Enabled Intruder Detection System (FEIDS).

Using unique acoustic signatures, the fibre-optic cables can detect people approaching tracks, pin down their location, and give an early warning to staff –  technology that will reduce disruption, identify and prevent cable theft activity within one metre and also potentially acting as suicide intervention.

The equipment enables first-response policing and security to be deployed sooner and more accurately. In addition,  instead of scanning CCTV, the long-range, autonomous nature of the FEIDS system allows operators to reduce workloads, lower costs, improve data usage and deepen automation over a large area.

Scott Heath, Innovation Manager at Thales GTS UK said:

We are pleased that our work with Focus Sensors has been recognised and excited to work on more projects with an SME, demonstrating that Thales GTS can be a valuable partner for innovation development.