Surveillance cameras at City station to enhance passenger safety

Surveillance cameras at City station to enhance passenger safety
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: To keep an eye on increasing crime and prioritise passenger safety, the Railways will soon set up surveillance cameras at the City Railway Station.

Starting May, closed circuit televisions (CCTVs) would aid the Railway Police Force (RPF) personnel, who are now responsible for safeguarding passengers and passenger areas, Divisional Railway Manager Mahesh Kumar told this website's newspaper. ``It will help in bringing down instances of pick-pocketing and luggage thefts. If any suspicious elements are spotted, we can now take immediate action,'' he added.

A total of 22 cameras will be set up at various points in the huge station, including the main lobby. Of these, six will be fixed, while the other 16 can be remote-controlled to enable pan, tilt and zoom.

All the cameras will be connected through cables to eight CCTVs placed in the RPF control room. This means that the RPF personnel can simultaneously keep an eye on eight different locations in the station, changing them according to their will. If they spot something suspicious, they will immediately radio officials on duty in that part of the station.

Railways will undertake this project at an estimated cost of Rs. 20 lakh and award tenders within the next few days, Kumar said. Depending on the requirement, the number of cameras would be increased, he added.

Other than surveillance cameras, railways has also planned other measures for tightening security. A control network connecting all RPF posts in Bangalore division will be established by using an optical fibre cable (OFC) link laid by the railways. Each post in the division will have a hotline directly linking it to the main control room at the City station.

``Earlier, the only way they could contact the head office was through VHF radios. But through long distances, the reception was not clear. By providing hotlines, we wish to improve communication between the posts. We will also provide them BSNL phones,'' Kumar said.