A new contract with South Western Railway (SWR), worth £6m, for up to three years, has been awarded to Mitie. The security firm will provide guarding and intelligence services across the train operator’s network which covers Greater London out of Waterloo (pictured, Woking), and lines into western England to Portsmouth, Southampton, Weymouth and Bournemouth, transporting about 220,000 passengers a day.
The contractor says its security officers will be keeping 14 sites, including stations, depots and security control centres, secure, besides provide reassurance and wellness checks for passengers on trains. SWR runs some 1,500 journeys a day.
The company says that the contract will also see its intelligence-led approach to security by fully digitising SWR’s security incident reporting processes, via Mitie’s Merlin 24/7 software. Security officers will be able to log details of incidents through a hand-held device. SWR will also have a dashboard on the platform, providing real-time intelligence on threat levels across the operator’s estate, based on those incident reports.
Using open-source data gathering, Mitie analysts based at its intelligence hub will provide SWR security people with updates on potential threats across the operator’s estate, such as large public events, protests and crime patterns in the vicinity; for identifying hotspots and make intelligence-led decisions about the number of security officers required at sites.
Jason Towse, Managing Director, Business Services at Mitie, said: “We’re pleased to have been awarded this new contract with South Western Railway, building on our experience and expertise in the rail industry. As we head into the busy summer period, we look forward to bringing our intelligence-led approach to security to help create a safe and secure environment for the thousands of passengers travelling with SWR every day.”
And Daniel O’Riordan, Head of Safety and Security Assurance for South Western Railway, said: “At South Western Railway, the safety and security of all of our colleagues and customers is our priority and this is a momentous occasion as we enter into partnership with a new security provider. We’re delighted to welcome Mitie to the SWR community and look forward to working with them. We’re sure that their innovative digital and intelligence-led solutions will help us to make our network a safer and more secure place for everyone who uses it.”
