Video Surveillance Uses by Rail Transit Agencies (2011)

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62 GLOSSARY Alignment—the pathway on which the train travels; in the light rail transit industry, alignment is also frequently referred to as the guideway or the fixed guideway; in the heavy, commuter, and freight rail industry, this is most often referred to as the right-of-way. Analog surveillance system—analog cameras convert information to an analog signal that may be displayed in real time on a monitor, recorded onto a videotape storage device, or both; the first generation of surveillance sys- tems were all analog, but as transit agencies upgrade their systems most are turning to digital technology. At-grade—tracks are at-grade when they are on the same level as the roadway or the existing rail tracks that they parallel; grade-separated tracks are those above or below the existing roadway or tracks. Commuter rail—FRA-compliant railcars powered by either diesel or electricity that provide regional passenger service or service between a central city and its suburbs. Com- muter rail service is provided on regular railroads or for- mer railroad rights-of-way; trains may be self-propelled or hauled by locomotives. Commuter rail is characterized by high-speed, infrequent-stop service. Examples: Virginia Railway Express (VRE), the Metropolitan Transportation Administration’s Long Island Railroad (LIRR) and Metro- North Railroad (MNRR), New Jersey Transit (NJT), and Northstar Commuter Rail (Minneapolis, MN). Consist (pronounced CON-sist)—a group of railcars com- bined to make up a train; four rail cars running as one train is called a four-car consist. Covert surveillance—cameras are hidden and there is no signage indicating their installation; this approach is best suited to crime detection and in a transit environment would most likely be installed where a problem with crime or fraud has been established and the agency’s aim is to make apprehensions to pursue criminal or civil actions. Digital surveillance system—digital cameras convert image information into data that can be displayed, stored, or both; because storage is on a compact disk or a com- puter’s hard drive, it is less space-intensive than an ana- log system; additionally, because exact copies of the images can be made, they are considered more accurate and more dependable than analog systems as evidence for cases involving retroactive investigation. Heavy rail—electric railways characterized by high speed and rapid acceleration; passenger railcars that operate on rights-of-way separate from other vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic; trains are boarded in stations from high-level platforms. The service may be referred to as a subway although stations and parts of the right-of-way may be at or above ground level. Examples: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit (NYCT). Injury—harm to a person resulting from a single event, activity, occurrence, or exposure of short duration. Light rail—features lightweight passenger rail vehicles that operate singly or in two- or four-car trains on fixed rails on alignments that often share streets and roadways with other traffic. Light rail systems are generally powered by an overhead electric line; passengers board in stations or from track-side stops in the street. Streetcars are a type of light rail service with frequent stops and nearly the entire route is operated in streets to allow passengers to board and alight quickly. Examples: Denver’s Regional Trans- portation District (RTD), Utah Transit Agency, and Phoenix’s Valley Metro Rail. Overt surveillance—cameras are in view of the public and their existence is generally accompanied by signage alerting people that they are in an area that is under video surveillance. There is a strong crime prevention element to such systems, but, depending on how accessible and visible the cameras are to the public, there is a possibility of tampering with and vandalizing the equipment. Pan-tilt-zoom camera—a camera that can pan (move left and right), tilt (move up and down), and zoom in or out; its dome can rotate 360 degrees to view an object directly below it. Pan-tilt-zoom cameras are preferred because of their greater viewing range and because the camera can be remotely controlled by viewers to look more closely at specific events that have attracted their attention or to which they have been alerted by analytics. Right-of-way (ROW)—the pathway on which the train travels; any piece of equipment/person within 25 feet of the track is considered to be in the ROW. [See also Alignment] Semi-covert surveillance—cameras are in public view but concealed, often behind one-way transparent cases; this approach is similar in its crime prevention efforts to an overt system but provides greater protection to the equip- ment and makes it more difficult for the public to know the number of cameras or their exact locations. Transit system—the facilities, equipment, personnel, and procedures needed to provide and maintain public transit service. Trespassers—persons on a railroad’s property in railroad operation whose presence is prohibited or unlawful; a

63 person on a highway-rail crossing is not classified as a trespasser unless the crossing is protected by gates or barriers that were closed when the person entered the crossing, or unless the person attempted to pass over, under, or between cars or locomotives of a train occupy- ing the crossing. Non-trespassers on railroad property are persons lawfully on property used in railroad opera- tion (other than employees, passengers, trespassers, or contractors), and persons adjacent to railroad premises when they are injured owing to railroad operations. Off railroad property they are persons affected by an event which begins on railroad property but ends on non-rail- road property, for example, a derailment that results in a release of hazardous materials onto non-railroad prop- erty, which injures a “nontrespasser” located on that property.