Western Railway officials said they are working to ensure that surveillance cameras are set up in the ladies coaches of a train on a pilot basis this month itself; Central Railway to follow suit
In a move towards ensuring safety of some 10 lakh women commuters who travel by its locals, the Western Railway is likely to carry out the first trial run of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras inside ladies compartments within a month’s time.
For long, passenger associations have been demanding surveillance cameras inside local trains. Railway sources said that presently the proposal is in planning stage but they are working on implementing it as soon as possible, most likely this month itself.
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Safety first: Six CCTV cameras will be installed in the ladies coaches and one each in the guard and motorman’s cabin at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. Representation Pic
“We will be discussing the functioning of CCTVs in ladies compartments this week,” said a WR official on condition of anonymity. Officials claim that necessary decisions on the operation of CCTVs will be taken during the meeting. Taking the view that the implementation cannot be delayed any further, officials said they want to set up the cameras in the days to come.
“We are looking at installing CCTVs in one rake on pilot basis very soon,” said S Silas, divisional railway manager (Mumbai), Western Railway. Authorities said they intend to verify workability and quality of feed from the CCTVs, likely to work on global positioning system. They would also test how well the cameras can monitor an entire compartment in real time.u00a0“I had raised the issue of installing CCTVs during our meetings with the railways. The surveillance is critical for women’s safety,” said Subhash Gupta, member, National Railway Users’ Consultative Committee.
On Central Railway
The CR also plans to carry out a pilot run for CCTVs in April. Officials claimed that a private firm has submitted a proposal to install six CCTVs in ladies’ compartments and one each in the guard’s and motorman’s cabin. This is expected to cost Rs 20 lakh. The cameras will send live feed to the control room. In case of an emergency a commuter can call up the helpline and provide details such as the train’s destination and departure time after which the coach will be identified and its details fed into the system. u00a0
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