In A Bid To Improve Rail Security, Government To Install CCTVs In All 11,000 Trains And 8,500 Stations
Looking to improve safety while travelling by trains, the Indian Railways is looking to procure over 12 lakh closed-circuit television (CTV) cameras across all the 11,000 trains and 8,500 railway stations in India, reports The News Minute. Currently, around 395 stations and 50 trains are equipped with CCTV surveillance systems. A provision of Rs 3,000 crore will be made by the Railways for this in its upcoming 2018-19 budget. All trains from suburban services to premium trains will be covered under the proposal.
Under the proposal, each coach in a train will have eight cameras – monitoring the aisle, vestibules and entry gates – and all crucial sections of stations will be covered.
All mail/express and premier trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and local passenger services, will be equipped with the modern surveillance systems in the next two years.A senior railway official
The Railways is reportedly looking at different options to raise funds for CCTVs and may even look to raising funds from the markets if needed. Given the number of accidents and derailments taking place off late, the safety of passengers will be on the top of the cards for the Railways.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would announce the details of the Railways’ plan to strengthen its safety mechanism during his budget speech. Among various proposals in the coming budget, elimination of nearly 5,000 railway crossings, strengthening of tracks, replacement of older rails will be accorded higher priority.
The Railways had earlier decided to eliminate all unmanned crossings in India by 2020. Unmanned crossings are the second largest cause of accidents in the railway network.