OptaSense, a QinetiQ company and the global leader in Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has appointed Mr Hansjorg Hess to its Advisory Board to help develop a global rail operation. The appointment comes on the back of a successful 18-month programme with German rail operator Deutche Bahn.

Mr Hess was formerly an Executive Director of Deutsche Bahn Netze and was responsible for the daily operation of over 33,000km of railway in Germany. Prior to this Mr Hess was also Head of Siemens Rail Automation and was responsible for the design, development and delivery of rail signalling systems globally.

Commenting on his appointment Mr Hess said: 'As a rail operator I saw the potential for OptaSense DAS technology to significantly reduce operational costs and am delighted to be joining to help realise these savings for operators globally. Over the past few years fibre sensing has proven its technical capabilities and I look forward to helping OptaSense to deliver on the commercial implementation with rail operators.'

Steve Wadey, QinetiQ Group CEO, said: 'I am pleased Mr Hess has agreed to join to the advisory Board of OptaSense to help us on our journey to develop a fibre sensing solution for the Rail sector. Mr Hess's experience as both a rail infrastructure owner and a signalling systems supplier will provide OptaSense with a unique insight into the technical and commercial needs of its current and future customers.'

Results of the OptaSense collaboration with DB were recently presented at the Wheel Detection Forum in Vienna.

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Notes for Editors

About OptaSense

• OptaSense is a platform technology, which has applications in a number of markets, including infrastructure security where the technology is already under contract to monitor 25,000kms of assets, principally providing leak detection and third party intrusion detection for oil and gas pipelines.

• OptaSense is the World leader in Distributed Acoustic Sensing and operating in 50 countries globally with operations across multiple industries including Oil & Gas, Defence & Security, Transport and Utilities. It is managed as a subsidiary of the QinetiQ Group.

About QinetiQ

• A FTSE250 company, QinetiQ uses its world class knowledge, research and innovation to provide high-end technical expertise and advice, to customers in the global aerospace, defence and security markets. QinetiQ's unique position enables it to be a trusted partner to government organisations, predominantly in the UK and the US, including defence departments as well as other international customers in targeted sectors.