Commuters at Tambaram railway station can now travel in safer conditions as security at the station got a fillip on Tuesday with the launch of an upgraded and integrated security system.
The system will help Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel to have a complete view of passenger movement on all platforms, at exit and entry points and other areas of the station.
The upgraded system is part of a major project that will cover 14 major and suburban stations of Southern Railway.
There were 16 cameras at Tambaram station earlier and of them, only 10 were functioning. Some of the cameras’ cables had also melted due to the heat. They have all been replaced now with 26 high-definition fixed and rotary cameras. All the cameras have been linked to the control room on platform no. 1.
S. Manohar, chief signal and telecom engineer, who formally dedicated the system, said the project was launched 18 months ago and had been completed in nine stations so far — Chennai Central, Egmore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Basin Bridge, Coimbatore, Kozhikode, Mangalore and Tambaram.
Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Tiruvallur, Chennai Beach and Mambalam too will soon have the systems.
With the new system, RPF personnel on duty would be able maintain surveillance of the railway station round the clock. The area around the baggage scanner too has been linked to the control room, Mr. Manohar said, adding that the police personnel would also be able to locate baggage or suspicious objects left behind by passengers.
