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Expert solution for Shanghai Metro

Over two million passengers access the system every day.

With successful installations already in full operation on Shanghai Metro’s Line 6 and Line 9, access control specialist TDSi, in partnership with its distribution partner in China, ZDX, has now begun work on the system installation for Line 7.

Shanghai Metro is one of the newest and fastest growing rapid transit systems in the world, with 162 stations and over 225 km of track running both above and underground.

On average, well over two million passengers use the system every day – with future expansion set to see that number increase to over three million.

The latest addition to the network, Line 7 was commissioned into service at the end of 2008, and connects the Baoshan District with the city centre and Pudong District. Significantly, it also provides a vital link to the site of the World Expo, which was hosted by Shanghai in 2010.

During the period 2005 to 2008, TDSi and ZDX developed and supplied fully integrated access control solutions for Lines 6 and 9. Each line is served by over 40 stations as well as its own Operational Control Centre (OCC), with around 2000 doors secured and controlled by TDSi’s systems on each line.

Commenting on the programme, TDSi’s managing director, John Davies said: “The Shanghai Metro is a very significant and high profile infrastructure programme, representing one of the largest access control projects across the whole of China. With two lines having been in operation for over a year, we were delighted to be awarded the contract for Line 7 – a real demonstration of the performance and quality of our systems, in very demanding conditions.”

The access control solution for the project features TDSi’s EXpert controllers, EXgarde Enterprise software platform and MIFARE smartcard readers.

Specified for their proven performance in high capacity applications, EXpert delivers a fully featured and networkable system. Each controller has a capacity of up to 48 000 cards and provides fast and effective access control to projects such as the Shanghai Metro, which has consistently high volumes of users passing through multiple access points.

The OCC and each station’s controllers are programmed via EXgarde Enterprise, TDSi’s latest advanced access management software application. Each station is capable of operating independently of the server in cases where communications are lost – a key requirement in the specification for this particular project.

Featuring database replication for powerful disaster recovery capabilities and total peace of mind, EXgarde Enterprise allows all real-time events and system parameters to be stored both at the main server in the local OCC and at each individual station.

However, should communications be lost between the centre and any of the individual stations, changes and events are stored at the local stations until communications to the main server are re-established, at which point, the databases are re-synchronised.

EXgarde Enterprise allows the system to be managed centrally, even where the Wide Area Network (WAN) may be of variable quality, effectively removing the risk of single point failure.

TDSi MIFARE smartcard readers are employed throughout each line. Providing true contactless technology, the readers provide an extremely cost efficient, highly reliable solution that also allows for straightforward expansion in the future – for example, allowing the same access control card to be used for cashless vending and car park management, offering users a true, one-card solution.

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