Reay Road station manager and Territorial Army soldier, Vinayak Shevale, is on a mission to secure stations with defence training
Railway officials were trained on how to manage threats in large crowds of commuters. Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
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Stations on the Harbour Line appear to be in safe hands, thanks to a Territorial Army soldier, Vinayak Shevale. For the last one week, he has offered safety and security training to all officials along this railway network.
This includes canteen boys, sweepers, maintenance workers and passenger association members. While the Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) have undertaken the initiative, this is the first time that railway officials are being trained by a Territorial Army (TA) soldier. Shevale said, "This training session is an attempt to pass on the knowledge I have gathered so far from the TA. I believe it will go a long way in making our stations more secure. We are teaching them about the dos and don'ts when they spot a suspicious object, and how to ensure passenger safety."
Railway officials at a training session
According to sources, the training session kickstarted at three stations -- Reay Road, Wadala and Cotton Green -- last week, with 30 officials from each station participating in the workshop.
A second line of defence after the Indian Army, the TA is mostly made up of civilian candidates, who may be professionals or self-employed. Shevale explained, "TA training requires me to attend camps and undergo infantry management, among other things. Unlike the Indian Army, the TA is not a source of employment."
AS Baratakke, senior inspector of Wadala railway police, who has organised these sessions, said, "People working round-the-clock at stations are our eyes and ears. It's important that they undergo security training. The TA is trained to assist in natural calamities and for maintenance of essential services during communal tensions. Railway officials will gain a lot from this training.
Vinayak Shevale is the station manager at Reay Road
37 people attended the session at Reay Road station. We also stressed on the importance of alerting cops at the earliest, on the helpline numbers 1512 and 182, in case of emergencies."
A railway official said, "Right now, we are focused on the Harbour Line, but maybe in the future, sessions like these could be conducted for CR and WR, too."
Ramesh, a canteen boy at Reay Road station, who underwent the training, said, "The sessions were a lesson in being alert at all times. Since Harbour stations are perennially crowded, we were also trained on how to manage security threats when there are thousands of commuters around, how to alert them or get them to safety."
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