Matrox Video Wall Technology Keeps France’s National Railway on Track

From its reliable performance to superior-quality display capabilities, the Matrox® and AGELEC® video wall solution has allowed the French National Railway Company (SNCF) to move full steam ahead with creating its Lyon-Part-Dieu station’s new operational center. The station’s operational center (COEG) is now equipped with two control rooms that are purpose-built for 24/7 site management and customer support, and powered by the Matrox-AGELEC video wall controller solution. According to Manuel Amenedo, Project Director at SNCF’s Auvergne Rhône Alpes Regional Station Management Team, the COEG plays a vital role in the SNCF’s daily operations. “The head of the COEG translates railway language to the passengers in the station,” he said.

Field-proven video wall solution

The SNCF was looking to modernize the Lyon-Part-Dieu station’s operational center for a few reasons. First, in order to assure the real-time display information transmitted to passengers at the station, especially in disrupted periods. Second, to support the COEG in becoming the station control center with the conductor present in the station.

The Lyon-Part-Dieu station operational center would therefore need to be equipped with a high-density capture and output video wall solution that could provide reliable passenger information through real-time, high-quality display. Already having had a positive outcome with the AGELEC AGCWall video wall solution—controller systems featuring Matrox capture and IP encode/decode cards and multi-display graphics boards—SCNF did not hesitate to add the trusted technologies to the Lyon-Part-Dieu installation. “The combination of Matrox and AGELEC video wall technologies has proven itself in SNCF’s demanding 24/7 environments,” said Guillaume Guerin, CEO of SNCF. “We have already deployed 20 of these robust, reliable systems throughout the network, and our operators have noticed enhanced decision-making and information-sharing abilities thanks to the high-performance video walls in each control room installation.”

Easy train and passenger flow management

In the primary control room, an AGCWall controller equipped with Matrox Mura IPX capture cards and Matrox multi-display graphics boards captures and displays 14 HDMI video feeds across a 10x2 video wall with 49-inch screens. This video wall configuration allows operators to have comprehensive access to information about train departures, arrivals, and connections. In the secondary control room, the SCNF uses a second Matrox-powered AGCWall controller to capture seven HDMI video feeds for display on a 3x2 video wall configuration with 40-inch screens.

With the powerful and flexible Matrox-AGELEC solution, SNCF is able to distribute the sources of information in each space and experience flawless video wall display quality. Thanks to scenario recording that correspond to the types of setbacks that may be experienced, SNCF is also able to ensure the display of the most relevant information. Additionally, AGELEC's AGCWEB software enables SNCF to easily disseminate information within its COEG.

Maximizing efficiency while minimizing costs

Designed for ease of deployment, Matrox video wall cards enabled the rapid installation of the AGCWall video wall solution for both Lyon-Part-Dieu station control rooms. Furthermore, the ability of Matrox’s video wall technology to capture multiple video sources while driving multiple, high-quality video displays allowed SNCF to achieve fast display of simultaneous, easy-to-read content from all available data points – all of which is critical to the around-the-clock monitoring and management of the Lyon-Part-Dieu railway station. “The Lyon-Part-Dieu operational center has seen several key operational improvements since deploying the Matrox and AGELEC video wall solution,’ said Amenedo. “The video walls play an integral part in managing communication between carriers and station managers, and minimizing delays caused by service disruptions.”