Skip to main content

Bluetooth aids rail passenger monitoring

In an effort to reduce congestion and improve passenger flow at railway stations in the Netherlands, Danish software company Blip Systems and Dutch railway consultants NPC have teamed up to monitor passenger movements using Bluetooth and wi-fi tracking. In an eight-week study at Groningen railway station, Blip Systems has installed 22 of its BlipTrack sensors which anonymously detect wi-fi and Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones and laptops. The sensors will monitor passengers and transmit the
April 12, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In an effort to reduce congestion and improve passenger flow at railway stations in the Netherlands, Danish software company 3778 Blip Systems and Dutch railway consultants NPC have teamed up to monitor passenger movements using Bluetooth and wi-fi tracking.

In an eight-week study at Groningen railway station, Blip Systems has installed 22 of its BlipTrack sensors which anonymously detect wi-fi and Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones and laptops.  The sensors will monitor passengers and transmit the encrypted data to a cloud server which calculates speed and travel time.  Data on passenger movements, queues and congestion will enable station operators to optimise design, improve customer experience and reduce congestion.

“We are excited to work with knowledgeable partners like NPC, and are confident that they will be able to add value to the data gathered by BlipTrack.  We hope that train stations will be yet another area where data gathered by BlipTrack and analysed by experts, can help solve passenger flow related problems and generate a higher level of comfort as well as more efficient use of resources. We see train stations as a very interesting market with great potential”, says Blip Systems CEO Peter Knudsen.

“The cooperation in developing a measuring solution specific for train stations together with BLIP systems and the Netherlands Railways (NS) has proved to be an excellent approach so far.  Although we are still in progress, the first results look extremely promising,” says program manager for Smart Stations Eelco Thiellier.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Island Radar: safely crossing continents
    August 6, 2020
    There is a safety flashpoint wherever roads cross over railways. Island Radar is using well-established traffic technology to keep all parties safe from harm.
  • Cooperative infrastructure systems waiting for the go ahead
    February 3, 2012
    Despite much research and technological promise, progress towards cooperative infrastructure system deployment is still slow. Here, Robert Cone and John Miles take a considered look at how and when it might come about. From a systems engineering viewpoint it looks logical and inevitable that vehicles should be communicating between themselves and with the road infrastructure. But seen from a business viewpoint the case is not proven.
  • Bluetooth-based traffic detection
    February 6, 2012
    Traffax has launched BluFax, based on the globally ubiquitous Bluetooth digital communications protocol, which operates by detecting the MAC addresses of Bluetooth signals from passing cars.
  • Priority boosts ridership and cuts congestion
    May 4, 2016
    Transit priority is proving a win-win in Europe and Australia. David Crawford reports. Technology that integrates with the Australian-originated Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) is driving bus signal priority and performance analysis initiatives on both sides of the world; in its homeland, with a major deployment in 2015, and in the capital of the Republic of Ireland.