Development and expansion of video technology

In the year under review, DB Group had more than 7,000 surveillance cameras in use at about 1,000 stations. More than 32,000 surveillance cameras record images from on board local transport and S-­Bahn (metro) trains. The Federal police have exclusive access to the footage saved. We are continuing our surveillance video expansion program that was adopted jointly with the Federal Government. The installed cameras record in full HD. This makes more details visible even in poor light. This means that the Federal police can be provided with an ever greater number of high-­quality images to support prosecution. The Federal police report that this footage allowed them to uncover more criminal offenses and apprehend more perpetrators.

Together with the Federal police, DB Group tested software used to conduct intelligent analyses of video footage in the year under review. Voluntary test subjects role-­played several thousand script-­based scenarios. The aim of the test was to use the software to detect situations that could impact rail and station operations. This includes, for example, passengers on the floor, people accessing specific areas and abandoned items. In the year under review, we agreed with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat; BMI) and the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (Bundes­ministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur; BMVI) to continue developing structural, personnel and organizational measures and to explore how feasible the system is. The aim is to make traveling by rail and using railway facilities consistently safer in the long term, even as traffic increases.