IoT and Displays Help Train Stations, Platforms and Waiting Rooms Can Become COVID-Secure

1 October 2021

Confidence in train travel could see a further boost following the recent study by Imperial College London, of both trains, station touchpoints (such as handrails and buttons) and air samples which found no COVID-19 contamination of any surface or airborne particles of the virus.

The findings are welcome news for employers who want to garner employee confidence in the commute and good news for employees who wish to start travelling again. However, this study was carried out during January and June 2021 – when commuter levels were low. This poses the question that as commuter levels increase, this could change the outcome of the test and change the results going forward.

To keep the confidence high, railway operators should turn to 24/7 air quality monitoring. This consistent monitoring will be vital to stopping the spread of Covid-19. The role of IoT and digital platforms like our CODA device will be critical to managing internal air quality (IAQ) of train stations, waiting rooms, offices and welfare facilities for staff and sub-contractors.

CODA measures air quality in real-time and delivers insights to display whether the IAQ is safe for travelling and entering the stations and waiting rooms. Commuters want to know at all times that the train station facilities are being monitored and managed to maintain the good internal air quality that was found to be accurate by Imperial College London.

When a sensor identifies poor internal air quality it can alert station managers or health and safety personnel who can close off an area or create extra ventilation flow to clean the interior air quality by creating an excess of airflow into a space.

Devices like CODA provide insights into the internal conditions – delivering information of the unseen – the air quality - and allowing maintenance teams to not only manage the station infrastructure and the general cleaning but now the cleaning of the air to improve the internal conditions for commuters and reduce the risk of known pathogens within our indoor spaces.

Digital twin technology can also provide a digital replication of the stations and platforms with the location of the sensors being represented digitally. Meaning maintenance teams can remotely monitor and manage and know the exact location should an issue with internal air quality arise. Real-time insights and a digital view of the station allows engineers to attend site to fix a problem with complete visibility of the location and area in question.

Perhaps the subsequent study by Imperial College London could be boosted by the data from CODA?

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If you would like to know more about how CODA can help manage and alert on internal air quality and help make indoor spaces covid-secure, please get in touch with the team on email: info@codacloud.io or call us on 0345 241 2889