How Arlanda Express Protects Rail Staff with Lone Worker Safety Technology

About A-Train and Arlanda Express

A-Train AB owns and operates Arlanda Express, Sweden's high-speed rail link between Stockholm City and Stockholm Arlanda Airport. As the operator responsible for one of Scandinavia's busiest airport rail connections, A-Train has a fundamental duty of care for both its passengers and the operational staff who keep the service running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Staff regularly work across a network that includes underground stations, tunnels, and platform environments where traditional safety infrastructure and GPS-based lone worker protection simply do not function.

The Challenge: Lone Worker Safety in a GPS-Denied Environment

Operational staff at Arlanda Express face a unique combination of lone worker safety risks. Working across underground platforms and tunnels, employees may encounter medical emergencies, security incidents, or technical failures in locations where help cannot easily reach them and where conventional safety technology fails.

Outdated alarm infrastructure creating safety gaps

The previous alarm service used by A-Train had not kept pace with the operational reality of modern rail. The system lacked the functionality, usability, and integration capabilities that staff needed to summon help quickly and effectively. This created practical gaps in the organisation's duty of care obligations, particularly in environments where isolated workers had limited ability to reach colleagues or the control room when incidents occurred.

No reliable indoor positioning for underground environments

Standard lone worker protection systems rely on GPS for real-time location tracking, a technology that is unreliable or entirely unavailable in underground and enclosed rail environments. Without accurate indoor positioning, A-Train's control room had no reliable way to identify the precise location of a staff member in distress. In a time-critical emergency, this gap between raising an alarm and locating the worker represents a serious safety risk.

The need for a modern, connected worker safety solution

It became clear to A-Train's safety leadership that the organisation required a fundamentally different approach: a connected worker safety platform that could operate reliably underground, integrate with existing workflows, and provide real-time situational awareness to the traffic control centre at Arlanda, without adding complexity or burden to frontline staff.

What does Arlanda Express think?

The Solution: Crystal Alarm's Lone Worker Safety Platform

To meet A-Train's requirements, Crystal Alarm designed and deployed a comprehensive lone worker safety system combining hardware, software, and smart integrations. The solution was built around four core requirements: reliable indoor positioning, immediate alarm activation, real-time situational awareness, and seamless integration into daily operations.

Indoor positioning with BLE beacon technology

Crystal Alarm developed a custom iBeacon-based indoor positioning solution specifically for A-Train's underground station environments. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons were installed across platforms and operational areas, creating a precise positioning network that functions without GPS. When a staff member activates a lone worker alarm, the system immediately identifies their location to the room level, even deep underground, giving the control room actionable information from the moment an incident is reported.

This tailored approach to indoor positioning represents a significant advance on standard lone worker protection systems, which typically become location-blind the moment a worker steps into an enclosed or subterranean environment.

Mobile personal safety alarms (iOS)

Staff can activate an emergency alarm or a pre-set timed safety alarm directly from their existing work smartphones, without any additional hardware. The integration with existing devices removes barriers to adoption and eliminates the need for staff to carry separate lone-worker devices, a common friction point that reduces real-world usage rates.

Crystal Button: discreet panic alarm via Bluetooth

For situations where raising an alarm via a smartphone may not be possible or safe, the Crystal Button provides a discreet, wearable solution. This compact Bluetooth accessory allows staff to trigger a personal emergency alarm silently and without interacting with their phone, a critical capability in security-sensitive or physically demanding situations.

Real-time audio monitoring

When a lone worker alarm is activated, Crystal Alarm's platform automatically opens the smartphone's microphone, enabling the traffic control centre to listen to the situation in real time. This live audio capability allows controllers to assess the nature and severity of an incident before dispatching a response, improving both the speed and appropriateness of the emergency reaction.

Centralised alarm management at Arlanda control

All alarms are received and managed at A-Train's traffic control centre at Arlanda Airport. Controllers receive immediate notification, including the staff member's name, contact number, real-time indoor position, and predefined incident response plans — giving them everything they need to coordinate a fast, informed response. The structured alarm management workflow reduces decision-making time and supports consistent adherence to safety procedures across all incident types.

The Results: A Safer Workplace for Rail Staff

Since deploying Crystal Alarm's lone worker protection platform, A-Train has achieved a measurable improvement in how safety is managed across the Arlanda Express operation.

• Faster emergency response times: Real-time indoor positioning and live audio monitoring enable control room staff to respond to incidents with greater speed and precision than was previously possible.
• Operational adoption without added burden: Integration with existing work smartphones means staff use the system naturally as part of their daily routine, with no additional devices to manage or remember.
• Reliable coverage in GPS-denied environments: The custom BLE beacon infrastructure delivers consistent indoor positioning across all underground platforms and enclosed areas — closing the coverage gap that standard lone worker systems cannot address.
• Improved duty of care compliance: A-Train now has a documented, auditable lone worker safety system with structured incident response plans, supporting regulatory compliance and strengthening the organisation's overall safety culture.
• Staff confidence and peace of mind: Frontline employees report greater confidence knowing that help is always accessible and that their location is known — even in the most isolated areas of the network.

The result is a connected worker safety environment where protection is continuous, discreet, and genuinely integrated into operational life, rather than an additional layer of complexity imposed on already demanding work.

Why Transport Operators Choose Crystal Alarm for Lone Worker Protection

Crystal Alarm is specifically designed for organisations where standard lone worker solutions fall short. Unlike generic platforms built around GPS tracking alone, Crystal Alarm's indoor positioning capability using BLE beacon technology makes it uniquely suited to transport operators, rail networks, healthcare facilities, and any organisation with staff working in environments where GPS is unavailable or unreliable.

Crystal Alarm combines dedicated hardware (the Crystal Button), mobile software (iOS and Android), and a flexible integration layer, enabling deployment at scale without disrupting existing workflows. Every solution is configured in close collaboration with the client's safety and operations teams, ensuring that alarm procedures, incident response plans, and monitoring protocols are aligned with real operational needs from day one.