CR recently got permission from the Railway Board in Delhi for the CCTVs; they will be installed in the ladies compartments
It has been seven years since the Mumbai terror attacks, with Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) bearing the brunt of the carnage. Now, finally Central Railway (CR) plans to expedite the process of installing closed circuit television (CCTVs) cameras inside coaches of local trains. CR will spend over Rs 1.25 crore.
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Sources said CR recently got permission from the Railway Board in Delhi to install CCTVs inside at least 50 coaches. “These will be installed inside the ladies compartments of local trains,” said a senior CR official.
Each rake has five ladies compartments and this would mean that CCTVs will be installed in 10 rakes — of 12 cars — in the coming days at the Matunga workshop. Each ladies compartment will have two CCTVs. The officials claim that installation will begin from January and will be complete by March. The CCTVs cost Rs 2.5 lakh per coach.
In October, Railway Minister Suresh Pabhu had inaugurated the first rake with CCTVs in the ladies compartments on CR. The CCTVs have the capacity to store footage of 30 days, which can be utilised for analysis whenever required. The CR is also roping in private companies to install the CCTVs against advertisement rights in the interior and exterior of the coaches.
The cameras will have digital video recording and a power supply of 110 volts will be required for each coach. The CCTVs will facilitate facial recognition in low light, can withstand shock and vibrations when the train is in motion, and can give output even at speeds of 80-100 kmph.
Security system in place
In June, the Indian Railways also inaugurated the Integrated Security System (ISS) at select railway stations. In the initial phase it was started at CST, Dadar, Kurla, Kurla LTT, Thane and Kalyan at a total cost of R21.7 crore. Each station has over 100 CCTVs that beam live images to the centre — the station office.