Railways' new scanners to catch suspicious vehicles

In a bid to improve the security arrangements at railway stations, the Central Railways (CR) has decided to install vehicle scanners at the entrances of all stations. These vehicle scanners will be placed on the surface of the road leading to the railway station premises, which would merge with the asphalt roads, without obstructing the traffic movement.

Security upgrade: The scanners will be attached to roads outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Dadar, Kurla, Thane, Kalyan and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. Representation Pic

The CR is planning to install these scanners at six stations like Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Dadar, Kurla, Thane, Kalyan and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. u00a0Sources said that these scanners will thoroughly inspect the under-frame of every passing vehicle.u00a0

"In case there is any problem with the dimensions of the chassis of the vehicle, then the scanner will send signals to the control room," said A Sharma, Chief Security Commissioner, Central Railways.

Officials added that the details of the chassis of every model of vehicles frequently running on road would be fed into the software of this vehicle scanner. "If there is any alteration in the under frame of the vehicle then the scanner will identify it and the vehicle will be made to stop," said V Malegaonkar, chief PRO, Central Railways.

Sources added that if there are any faults in the vehicle's under-frame then automatically poles would come up barring the vehicle to move ahead. At most of these railway stations, black and yellow taxis ply in huge numbers.

Apart from this, even other private and commercial vehicles go till the stations to drop passengers. These scanners would not be kept working for 24 hours but instead random checks would be made by the railway police. The RPF officials claim that the main purpose for such high-end machines is to generate fear in the minds of miscreants.

All six stations are important as lakhs of people visit them every day. Moreover, CST and Kurla LTT are two terminus stations from where several long distance trains arrive and depart every day, bringing in thousands of people. The RPF officials claim that the scanners would ensure discipline in the way auto rickshaws and taxis that queue up at stands ply.

The equipment will be installed as part of the Rs 25.25 crore integrated security system under which face-detecting CCTVs, metal detectors, baggage scanners and other paraphernalia will be installed. It's been a couple of days since dual baggage scanners were installed at CST to help the RPF check luggage.u00a0