Prayagraj: In a first, railway journey in the country is all set to be more secure courtesy of a high-tech internet-based video surveillance system which has been installed at 269 railway stations of the country including 16 stations of North Central Railways (NCR).
Besides, the central control monitoring room has been activated in 10 zones of the country, including NCR.
This is part of the major initiative of the Railway Board wherein 6,049 railway stations across the country, of all categories, are being equipped with this state of the art system.
The work has been assigned to RailTel and the system is being installed from the funds allocated under the Nirbhaya Fund of the central government.
Talking to TOI, senior manager of RailTel, Sucharita Pradhan said, “The feed from the network of cameras being installed in this system is being centrally monitored and the footage can be stored for 30 days.
To enhance security at railway stations, the system has been installed to cover main entrance/exit, platforms, foot overbridges, waiting halls, parking areas etc.
based on-site and security requirements and threat perceptions”.
These CCTVs are attached to the networked optical fibre cable (OFC) and the video feed of the CCTV cameras is being displayed not only at local RPF posts but also at a centralised CCTV control room at divisional and zonal level.
Pradhan further informed that of the 269 stations, where the system has already been installed, 16 each are from NCR and North Eastern Railways (NER), 47 from Northern Railways (NR) and so on.
The system works based on video analytics and facial recognition which means that while monitoring the feed if any suspicious-looking person is picked up, the facial recognition system would identify the same based on the existing data of the system.
This facility would be added to the system in the coming time, explains an official.
For this purpose, high-tech cameras are being installed which include bullet, fixed dome, Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) and 4K ultra high definition cameras.
“Network Management System (NMS) has also been provided for monitoring the footage of the cameras which are stored in a server and backed by UPS.
The feed can be viewed from any web browser, be it laptop, mobile phone etc., by authorised personnel,” she added.
Pradhan added that work at 31 more stations is in progress and will be completed soon.
RailTel has also floated tender for this work at 456 additional stations.
“In terms of NCR, the control room has been recently activated at the zonal headquarters at Subedarganj wherein live feed is being watched on two 55-inch display screens”, said CPRO, NCR, Dr Shivam Sharma.
Of the 16 stations of NCR, the system has already been installed at Babina (20 cameras have been installed), Datia (21), Aligarh (40), Gwalior (15), Mahoba (27), Phaphund (27), Tundla (40), Orai (38), Etawah (40), Raja ki Mandi (38), Agra Fort (40), Lalitpur (40), Sikohabad (40), Firozabad (15), Banda (40) and Murena (40), informed the CPRO.
Talking about this project, Puneet Chawla, CMD/RailTel, said, “We will be completing the work at 756 stations by March 2022.
We are installing four types of IP cameras to ensure maximum coverage inside the Railway premises.
This will give an extra edge to the RPF officials to improve security.”