Reversing cameras – now on Swedish trains

Maintained traffic safety with fewer resources – while avoiding fatal accidents. This is the results when a newly developed backup camera for trains was launched on the market by Swedish Railway Metrics and Dynamics.

Backup cameras have been around for a long time in passenger cars. But on the railway, they have been absence for a long time, as reversing cameras in long trains require technically more advanced solutions than in a car. Although, the need for such technology is great. Not least because there have been several fatal accidents for unprotected signalers, who sometimes stand on outside steps at the back of a train in order to keep an eye backwards. Therefore, the Swedish company Railway Metrics and Dynamics – as part of the company's system platform for real-time monitoring of railways and railway vehicles – developed a wireless and magnetically mounted reversing camera for trains.

Bought by several Swedish railway operators

The production of Railway Metrics and Dynamics backup camera was initiated at the end of the third quarter of 2023. Already before the end of the year, several Swedish railway operators have purchased cameras. One such market actor is the switching and terminal service company Väte Rail.

– With these backup cameras, we see the possibility of maintaining a high level of traffic safety, while saving resources. We are testing the cameras, and it looks promising. Backup cameras are the technology of the future, the more it is used and tested, the more established it will become, says Jan G Forslund, CEO of Väte Rail.

Testing in Trelleborg

Initially, Väte Rail is testing the use of the purchased reversing cameras in Trelleborg, where the company loads and unloads ferries with approximately 600-meter-long trains. The process takes place in stages, where the train is by turn backed up and by turn driven forward, in order to be able to load and unload all the wagons that are on different tracks in the ferry. Without a reversing camera, one person is needed to stand next to the ferry and remotely control the train – and who handles all the actual work of driving and switching – as well as someone who sits in the locomotive solely to be the driver's eyes in the other direction. By using a backup camera, one person is enough.

– With a backup camera, personnel are freed up for other, more qualified tasks. Replacing boring tasks with a camera is a win-win for everyone, says Jan G Forslund.