USERS of a York firm's ground-breaking service to improve rail safety have risen dramatically, according to new figures.

York-based Omnicom Engineering, the 2003 Evening Press Business Of The Year, provides an accurate 3D representation of Britain's entire rail network at the touch of a button.

Network Rail has used Omnicom's OmniSurveyor3D since February 2000 to help manage and maintain its network.

Now the system has been linked into Omnicom's National Video Server, which allows all the data to be saved on to one giant database which is available to rail employees throughout the country.

In January 2003, just 19 workers at Network Rail were trained to use the system, which surveys 18,000 miles of track. This number has now shot up to 580, a figure which is still expected to grow rapidly as more members of staff are due to complete the training course in the near future.

The system is being used more and more as part of Network Rail's day to day management of the railway. In September 84,577,000 images were viewed, more than double the number viewed the previous month.

Ian Tankard, Network Rail's OS3D administrator for the Midlands, said: "Having such easy access to OS3D allows us to verify our existing data and maintain a high quality of accuracy without having to book costly trackside excursions. We are all able to view the network from our desktop to check contract requirements, make accurate measurements or just to view the track, which has proved its worth time and time again."

Mark Mitcheson, development director of Omnicom, which is based in Tadcaster Road, said delivering the data to hundreds of users was highly challenging.

"After all, it's not just a big bunch of images but an accurate 3D representation of the entire rail network," he said.

Updated: 12:13 Monday, February 23, 2004