In yet another milestone towards improvement of travel by Railways, the department will install CCTV cameras in all passenger coaches. The move is aimed to enhance passenger safety while travelling in trains.
In what is being seen a significant step and widely welcomed, this will essentially safeguard and boost the confidence of women passengers who feel unsafe on long routes while travelling alone especially during night. The installation decision has come after positive outcome of experimental installation of CCTV cameras in passenger coaches, as per the information note from the Ministry of Railways on Sunday.
"This move will significantly improve passenger safety. Miscreants and organised gangs take advantage of gullible passengers. With cameras, such incidents will significantly reduce. To preserve privacy of passengers, CCTV cameras will be installed in the common movement area near the doors."
Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw and the Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu reviewed the progress of CCTV Cameras' installation in locomotives and coaches, with the meeting which was held on Saturday being attended by the senior officials of the Railway Board.The railway officials informed that successful trials have been done in the loco engines and coaches of the Northern Railway. The Union Minister gave the go ahead to install CCTV cameras in all 74,000 coaches and 15,000 locos.
Each railway coach will be covered with 4 dome type CCTV cameras - 2 in each entrance way and each locomotive will have 6 CCTV cameras. This will include 1 camera each at the front, rear and on both sides of the locomotive. Each cab (front and rear) of a loco will be fitted with 1 dome CCTV camera and 2 desk mounted microphones.
The officials shared that the CCTV cameras will have the latest specifications and will be STQC certified. The Union Minister for Railways emphasised on deploying the best-in-class equipment.He urged the railway officials to ensure that high quality footage should be available even for trains running at 100 kmph plus speeds and also under low lighting conditions.The Union Minister for Railways encouraged the officials to explore the use of AI on the data captured by CCTV cameras, in collaboration with the IndiaAI mission, the statement read.
The move of fitting cameras in the common movement areas of coaches aims to improve safety and security of passengers. While preserving privacy, these cameras will help in identifying miscreants.
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