Fima UAB, a company electronic engineering solutions will mount video surveillance systems at four stations of the railway section Vilnius-Kaunas, as well as accesses to the stations and on the bridge over the River Vokė. In the project, video surveillance systems operating on IP (Internet Protocol) technology will be introduced in such a large territory for the first time in Lithuania. Innovative technological solutions will ensure safe and efficient transit of trains in the territory of Lithuania.

Fima UAB signed a contract with the Police Department under the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter – PD under MoI) on the first phase of the long-term project to be implemented by June 2008. The company will perform LTL 4.8 million worth of works at the railway stations of transit trains and at the Vokė bridge, mounting latest IBM software and hardware.

"The crucial railway objects or sections and their territories (perimeter) will be under round-the-clock surveillance with the help of ordinary and IR-sensitive video cameras designed for better vision under limited lighting conditions. The cameras will ensure that persons would be seen in full stature and could be recognized from their clothing and facial features. Therefore, we can say with certitude that the police will have very precise description of violators, as well as information about the location of the violation, which will make officers’ work much easier,” says Giedrius Zaicevas, director of Fima’s Security Solutions Department.

The information recorded by video cameras will be sent via IP technology to central control posts at Vilnius and Kaunas transport police offices and relevant divisions of the State Border Guard Service and Lietuvos Geležinkeliai. With the help of the technology, video information will be sent and processed by computer networks, which guarantees better quality of transmitted video materials.

Algimantas Varnelis, chief of the Public Police Board of the Police Department, says the system will assist officers in precise assessment of the situation and facilitate faster response. Protection of tracks of transit trains is of utmost importance because Lithuania serves as the transit point for illegal migrants, which requires superb protection of the country’s borders and “corridors” of transit trains. The new system will also ensure uninterrupted traffic of transit trains. From now on, the opportunity to receive high-quality video information will allow immediate identification of persons attempting to detrain or throw items off the train.

Some of the territories of stoppage or slow movement of transit passenger trains will be enclosed with electronic perimeter protection equipment. A specific focus was made on the surveillance and security devices at the Vokė bridge – the bridge will be equipped with video cameras, special fencing, as well as sensor cables that will register attempts to enter the protected territory.

The project is implemented in line with the Special Kaliningrad Transit Programme approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. The Police Department has been commissioned to control and coordinate the performance of territorial police institutions in the implementation of the programme of transit trains, which transit the territory of the Republic of Lithuania from the territory of the Russian Federation to the Kaliningrad region and back, with the goal of preventing illegal detraining of persons or items, proper control of persons travelling from the territory of the Russian Federation to the Kaliningrad region and back via the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, due actions of police officers in territories of the transit routes and close to internal borders of the European Union, as well as operations aimed at ensuring control of foreigners and transit transport in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania.

This type of project is not the first for the company’s specialists in the field of enhancing safety of Lithuanian railways. Fima has also mounted a security system at the Kena railway border post and is currently installing the system at the Stasylai border post (Šalčininkai district).