Lone worker alarms for
rail and transport
Protect your people, wherever their
work takes them
Crystal Alarm provides flexible lone worker alarms and personal safety solutions for rail and transport organisations. Protect drivers, station staff, maintenance teams and other employees working alone or away from immediate support, using mobile and stationary alarms connected through one flexible safety platform.
Meet Crystal Alarm at InnoTrans 2026 · Berlin · 22–25 September
16,000+ users
Easy, self-managed administration
Certified hardware (CE, IP65/IP67)
Over 14 years of experience of lone worker alarms
Lone worker safety for a changing transport environment
Employees across the rail and transport sector often work alone, on the move or away from immediate support. Crystal Alarm provides flexible lone worker safety solutions that help employees quickly raise the alarm when assistance is needed. Our platform brings mobile and stationary lone worker alarms together, making it possible to adapt personal safety to different roles, locations and organisational procedures.
Lone worker protection for different transport roles
Rail and public transport personnel
Flexible lone worker alarms for employees working across rail and public transport environments.
Drivers and mobile employees
Mobile lone worker protection for employees whose work takes them between different locations.
Station and terminal staff
Personal safety solutions that enable employees to quickly raise an alarm when assistance is required.
Service and maintenance teams
Flexible lone worker safety solutions for employees carrying out maintenance and service work across different sites.
Why organisations choose Crystal Alarm
Flexible by design
Combine mobile and stationary solutions and adapt alarm workflows to different roles, locations and organisational requirements.
Privacy-conscious positioning
Location information can be activated in connection with an alarm rather than being used for continuous employee tracking.
Developed in Sweden
Crystal Alarm develops personal alarm technology for professional organisations, backed by local expertise and support.
Built around your alarm workflow
Connect alarms to your own organisation or an external alarm receiving centre, depending on how you want alarms to be handled.
"With Crystal Alarm, we’ve built an alarm chain that truly works. Our staff can discreetly trigger an alert via the panic button when facing threats of violence, and we can also use the Man Down feature when our personnel carry out tasks where there’s a risk of accidents."
— Anders Edgren, System Manager Personal Alarms, Alcohol Interlocks, Body-Worn Cameras, SJ AB
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Flexible lone worker alarm solutions
Crystal Alarm combines mobile and stationary lone worker alarm solutions in one flexible platform. Organisations can configure alarm workflows around their own procedures and connect alarms to internal recipients or an external alarm receiving centre. Depending on the solution, functions can include direct alarms, timed alarms, Crystal Button or Crystal Button Air and location in connection with an alarm.
From outdoor GPS to indoor positioning
Know where help is needed, even in areas where GPS signals are weak
Transport employees constantly move between environments. GPS can provide location information outdoors, but stations, underground areas, terminals and depots can make satellite positioning less effective. Crystal Alarm can therefore combine mobile positioning with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons for indoor environments. Beacons can be installed in defined areas such as:
- Platforms
- Stations
- Depots
- Underground operational areas
- Staff areas
- Terminals
When an alarm requiring positioning is activated, the system can use the available positioning technology to help the alarm recipient identify where assistance is needed. This allows the same safety platform to support employees as they move between trains, outdoor environments and buildings.
What happens when an employee raises an alarm?
Technology is only one part of a personal safety solution. The alarm procedure behind it is just as important.
1. The employee raises the alarm
An alarm is activated through the configured method, for example the Crystal Alarm app or Crystal Button.
2. Alarm information is transmitted
The alarm is routed according to your organisation’s configuration. Relevant information such as identity and location can be made available to the designated recipients.
3. The right alarm recipient takes over
Your organisation decides who should receive and handle alarms. This can include:
- Your own traffic or operations control centre
- Internal security or designated colleagues
- An external Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC)
- A combination of internal and external recipients
Crystal Alarm can integrate with established external alarm receiving centres such as SOS Alarm and Avarn.
4. Your agreed response procedure is followed
The designated alarm recipient assesses the available information and follows your organisation’s agreed alarm and escalation procedure. This means Crystal Alarm becomes part of your existing safety process rather than replacing it.
A strong option for public transport: connection to SOS Alarm
For organisations that do not want to manage every alarm internally, Crystal Alarm can be connected to an external Alarm Receiving Centre, giving organisations access to an established external alarm handling organisation rather than requiring every alarm to be managed by an internal team.
Other configurations are also possible. Organisations with an existing traffic control or security function can route alarms internally, externally or through a combination designed around their operating model. Not sure which alarm chain is right for you? Our team can map your current procedures and help you identify an appropriate setup.
Privacy by design: protection without continuous employee tracking
Personal safety should not require continuous monitoring of employees. Crystal Alarm does not continuously track employees’ locations. Positioning is activated in connection with alarm functions that require location information, such as an Emergency Alarm, Timed Alarm, Safe Return Home or Man Down alarm.
Depending on the environment, positioning can use GPS, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth beacons. Crystal Alarm acts as a data processor for end-user alarm data, while the employer remains the data controller. Retention of alarm information and system logs can be configured according to the customer’s requirements and applicable data protection obligations. This approach helps organisations provide location-based personal safety while avoiding continuous location monitoring during normal work.
From pilot to rollout
Getting started with Crystal Alarm
A transport safety implementation does not need to begin with a network-wide rollout. A typical project starts by understanding your working environments, risks, employee groups and existing procedures.
1. Map your requirements
Together, we identify who needs protection, where employees work and who should receive alarms.
2. Configure the solution
We configure the appropriate combination of mobile alarms, Crystal Buttons, positioning and alarm routing. Where indoor positioning is required, beacon coverage can be planned for the relevant stations, platforms, depots or operational areas.
3. Test the alarm chain
The configured alarm workflow is tested so employees, administrators and alarm recipients understand how the solution operates.
4. Roll out to employees
Users are added to the platform, and the solution can be introduced according to your organisation’s rollout plan.
5. Manage and develop
Administrators can manage users and configurations, while Crystal Alarm provides ongoing technical support and platform development.
Build the right package for your organisation
Crystal Alarm is a modular platform rather than a one-size-fits-all alarm product. Your solution can include:
- Crystal Alarm App: Mobile personal alarm functionality for iOS and Android.
- Crystal Button: A dedicated physical alarm button for discreet activation.
- Crystal Alarm Platform: Administration, alarm management, configuration and reporting.
- Indoor positioning: BLE beacon infrastructure for locations where GPS positioning is insufficient.
- Alarm receiving: Connection to your own control centre, designated internal recipients or an external Alarm Receiving Centre such as SOS Alarm or Avarn.
What does Crystal Alarm cost?
Pricing depends on the number of users, hardware requirements, alarm receiving setup, integrations and whether indoor positioning infrastructure is required. Tell us how many employees and locations you need to protect, and we can recommend an appropriate configuration and provide a commercial proposal.
Read our case studies
SJ: protecting onboard personnel since 2012
SJ uses Crystal Alarm as an integrated personal safety solution for onboard employees. The implementation combines mobile alarms, Crystal Button, timed alarms and integration with operational systems. Alarm information can be distributed to traffic control and colleagues on the same train according to the configured workflow.
A-Train / Arlanda Express: positioning where GPS cannot reach
At Arlanda Express, BLE beacons have been used across platforms and operational areas to provide indoor positioning in environments where GPS is unavailable or unreliable.
FAQ: Lone worker alarms for rail and transport
What is a lone worker alarm for rail and transport, and why does the sector need one now?
A lone worker alarm lets an employee raise a discreet or direct alarm from a mobile app, a wearable button, or a fixed device, and sends their location to a receiver who can act immediately. Rail and public transport put staff in genuinely exposed positions: drivers alone in a cab, station staff on empty platforms late at night, maintenance teams in depots and tunnels. Passenger volumes and shift patterns keep growing, and so does the case for a system built specifically for that environment rather than a generic office solution.
What do employers need to do to comply with lone worker safety regulations?
The EU's general occupational safety framework (Directive 89/391/EEC) requires employers to assess and manage risks for staff who work alone, and most member states have their own detailed rules on top of it. Sweden's AFS 2023:2 sets explicit requirements for organisations with lone workers, and the UK's Health and Safety Executive publishes separate guidance for lone working. In practice, this means documenting the risk, having a way for staff to raise an alarm, and having a defined response chain, not just a policy on paper.
How does positioning work in a rail environment, where GPS often fails?
Outdoor GPS covers a driver on the line or a technician trackside, but it breaks down indoors and underground, exactly where a lot of transport work happens. A layered approach solves this: GPS outdoors, Bluetooth Low Energy beacons on platforms, in depots and in staff areas, and Wi-Fi positioning as a further layer indoors. The result is a location that is accurate enough to send help to the right platform or the right room, not just the right building.
What actually happens after a staff member triggers an alarm?
The alarm reaches a predefined receiver, whether that is an internal security function, the organisation's own alarm centre, or an external one such as SOS Alarm or Avarn. The receiver sees who raised the alarm, their location, and relevant context, and follows an agreed action plan: contacting the employee, dispatching help, or escalating further. For public transport specifically, a direct connection to SOS Alarm can shorten that chain considerably.
Does a lone worker alarm mean employees are tracked all the time?
No, and this is where a lot of hesitation about lone worker technology comes from. A properly designed system activates location only when an alarm or a timed check in is triggered, not as continuous monitoring. Outside an active alarm, the employer cannot see where staff are. That distinction, privacy by design rather than surveillance by default, is what makes staff willing to actually use the system instead of resenting it.
Which transport roles benefit most from a lone worker alarm?
Drivers and other mobile staff who spend shifts without a colleague nearby, station and terminal staff working solo during off peak hours, and service and maintenance teams in depots or trackside all face a similar risk profile: isolation plus exposure to the public or to physical hazards. Each role tends to need a slightly different alarm workflow, which is why the alarm chain should be configured per role rather than applied as one fixed setup.
How common are threats and violence against rail and public transport staff, and does an alarm actually help?
Violence and threats against public transport workers are a documented, ongoing problem across Europe, well enough established that UITP and the European Transport Workers' Federation have issued joint recommendations specifically to address it. A lone worker alarm does not prevent every incident, but it closes the gap between something going wrong and help arriving, and gives staff a documented, discreet way to act instead of hoping someone notices. Organisations that have implemented a system along these lines, including SJ in Sweden, have used it to build a working alarm chain that responds when a threat occurs.
How long does it take to roll out a lone worker alarm across a transport organisation?
Most organisations move through the same five steps: mapping requirements, configuring the solution, testing the full alarm chain end to end, rolling out to employees, and then managing and developing it as needs change. A pilot with one depot, one line, or one shift pattern is usually the fastest way to validate the alarm chain before a full rollout, rather than configuring everything for the whole organisation at once.
Where can we see this in person before deciding, especially ahead of InnoTrans 2026?
InnoTrans 2026, the international trade fair for transport technology, takes place in Berlin from 22 to 25 September. It is a natural place to see a lone worker system such as the app, the physical alarm button and the indoor positioning setup working together, and to talk through how an alarm chain would fit a specific fleet, station network or depot before committing to anything.
Let's talk about safety in transport
Interested in finding out how Crystal Alarm could support your organisation? Leave your details and our team will get in touch to discuss your needs.