Cyber-resilient SCADA transforms ride monitoring and maintenance at Thorpe Park
Recognised as the UK's most thrilling theme park, Thorpe Park wanted to improve visibility across its attractions, reduce downtime and give engineers faster access to the operational insights needed to keep rides running safely and reliably. Actemium UK delivered a centralised, cyber-resilient SCADA platform that brings information from eight roller coasters into a single interface, enabling real-time monitoring, faster fault response and more informed maintenance decisions. The solution has improved the client’s ride availability, strengthened OT cybersecurity and created a scalable foundation for future expansion.
Market sector: Leisure & Entertainment
Customer & location: Thorpe Park, Surrey, UK
Expertise: SCADA | System Integration | OT Cybersecurity | 24/7 Support
Technology partners: Schneider Electric
Key outcomes
- Single monitoring platform for eight roller coasters
- Faster fault diagnosis and response
- Improved maintenance efficiency and asset performance
- Increased ride availability and enhanced visitor experience
- Strengthened OT cybersecurity through dedicated network infrastructure
- Scalable architecture extended to additional attractions
- Ongoing 24/7 support to maximise reliability and resilience
Integrating ride control systems while protecting safety and cybersecurity
As part of Merlin Entertainments, one of the world’s largest operators of visitor attractions, Thorpe Park in Surrey welcomes up to 20,000 guests a day, making ride availability critical to both operational performance and the visitor experience.
Previously, maintenance engineers could only access ride information directly from control panels located at individual attractions. This made fault diagnosis more time-consuming and limited the visibility of performance trends across multiple rides, increasing downtime and reducing opportunities for proactive maintenance.
Thorpe Park needed a way to securely collect, store and present information from multiple ride control systems, providing engineers with faster access to insights that would support condition-based maintenance and improved asset performance. However, the solution had to be implemented without affecting validated ride control systems or compromising the high levels of safety and security required for ride operations.
A further challenge was connecting controllers from different manufacturers and generations while preserving system integrity and maintaining robust cyber resilience.
Delivering a cyber-resilient platform for centralised ride monitoring
Actemium UK designed and implemented a scalable SCADA platform that provided a centralised view of ride status, alarms and performance across eight roller coasters. Built using Schneider Electric AVEVA InTouch, the platform enabled engineers to monitor attractions in real time from a single location rather than individually checking ride control systems.
To integrate the park’s diverse control systems, Actemium deployed Kepware KepServerEX, while AVEVA Historian and Microsoft SQL Server provided secure data collection, storage and reporting. The platform operated in a strictly read-only configuration, enabling operational insights to be extracted without interfering with validated control logic or safety systems.
Actemium also delivered a fibre-based network protected by industrial-grade firewalls, providing secure and reliable communications while strengthening OT cybersecurity. By leveraging the park’s existing fibre infrastructure, the solution avoided reliance on public cellular networks and supported dependable connectivity across the site.
With access to real-time and historical information, engineers can now respond more quickly to faults, identify root causes and spot developing issues before they result in unplanned downtime. The outcome is a more proactive maintenance strategy, improved asset performance and greater ride availability, helping visitors enjoy more of the park’s attractions during their visit.
Neil Perkins, Head of Controls and Automation at Thorpe Park, said:
“Actemium delivered on time, on budget, and exceeded our expectations. We built on the success we’ve had working with Actemium in the past, as its team has proven ability to interpret and integrate new technology into our existing systems. They remain a trusted partner for Thorpe Park and the wider Merlin Group.”
A scalable platform for future growth
Following the success of the initial deployment, Thorpe Park expanded the platform to additional attractions across the park. Designed with future growth in mind, the architecture provides a flexible framework for integrating new rides and systems as operational requirements evolve.
The project has also established a proven blueprint that could be adopted across other attractions, supporting greater standardisation, operational visibility and condition-based maintenance.
To ensure long-term reliability and performance, Thorpe Park continues to work with Actemium UK’s 24/7 Support team, providing ongoing expertise to maximise system availability and resilience.
