CCTV surveillance at 15 railway stations in State soon

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

South Western Railway (SWR) has announced that CCTV cameras will be installed at 15 railway stations in Karnataka. Six stations will be covered under Bengaluru division. However, the main railway station at Majestic will not be included in the project for now.

Two stations - one in Andhra and the other in Goa - which fall under the Bengaluru division would be covered under the scheme. The cameras will be set up at 756 railway stations across the country under the project. It will be implemented by RailTel, a Mini Ratna Central Government Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the guidance of the Ministry of Railways.

The project is called the Video Surveillance System (VSS) project and the Nirbhaya Fund will provide for the infrastructure. SWR added that this is merely the first phase of the project and that the remaining stations will be covered in the next phase.

Under the Bangalore division, cameras would be set up at Bengaluru Cantonment, Banaswadi, Kengeri, Bangarapet, Krishnarajapuram and the Sri Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam station in Mamilakunta, Andhra Pradesh. Under the Mysuru division, CCTV units would be installed at Birur Junction in Chikkamagaluru district, Davangere, Hassan and Shivamogga.

Under the Hubballi division, cameras will be set up in Belagavi, Ballari, Vijayapura, Gadag, Hosapete, Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji Station in Hubballi and Vasco Da Gama Railway Station in Madgaon, Goa. An official statement by SWR said that the move was part of the security measure.

“As many as 17 stations all over SWR have been selected for the implementation of Video Surveillance System (VSS) with advanced technology under Phase 1 of VSS project by RailTel, a Mini Ratna Central Government PSU under Ministry of Railways under Nirbhaya Fund. The project aims at enhancing security and ensuring safety of passengers and the public at Railway station and railway premises such as waiting halls, reservation counters, parking areas, main entrance/exit, platforms, foot over bridges, booking offices etc,” it said.

“This VSS system will be Internet Protocol based and will have a network of CCTV cameras. These CCTVs are being networked on optical fiber cable and the video feed of the CCTV cameras will be displayed not only at local RPF (Railway Protection Force) posts but also at a centralized CCTV control room at divisional and zonal level. The CCTV cameras of stations and video feeds will be monitored at these 3 levels to ensure enhanced safety and security at Railway premises,” it added.

AI & face recognition The statement said that the system would be inclusive of artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition technologies. “The system comes with Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled Video Analytics Software and Facial Recognition Software which will help to detect known criminals triggering an alert when they enter station premises. Network Management System (NMS) has also been provided for monitoring of Cameras, Server, UPS and switches which can be viewed from any web browser by authorized personnel,” it said.

Union Minister of Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw said: “We need to rapidly absorb new technology in Railways, be it for rolling stock, construction, safety, cyber security, or in situations where there is a human interface.”