Southern Railway has proposed to bring Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Vriddhachalam and Puducherry railway stations under video surveillance system.
Field-level personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) would maintain the system and examine the video-footages generated from the host of Internet protocol advanced surveillance cameras from time to time. Tenders had been called for the installation of the system at the four stations of which Ariyalur and Vriddhachalam Junction falls on the busy Tiruchi - Villupuram chord line
A dedicated space would be allotted at a vantage location in each of the stations for provision of a separate room which would be equipped with monitors connected with the surveillance cameras for the RPF personnel.
The plan was to install 35 cameras in Puducherry station, 32 in Vriddhachalam, 28 in Nagapattinam and 26 at Ariyalur station. The cameras would be installed at key locations and would be connected to the monitors which would be equipped in a separate room. Movements taking place within the station premises and in its vicinity could be seen in the monitors. The cameras would have a back-up facility to rewind the video grabs in case of investigation of offences.
They would act as a manpower multiplier in enhancing security and surveillance.
Besides, they would be useful in establishing identity of the culprits, said a senior RPF officer. They would be a tool for detection of crimes and enable the RPF to prevent offences by noticing suspicious movements of any person.
Tiruchi Junction was the first station in Tiruchi Division to have a surveillance cameras-based monitoring system with 67 cameras. Four more railway stations - Kumbakonam, Thanjavur Junction, Villupuram Junction and Mayiladuthurai Junction - were brought under the system in February this year. Thanjavur, Kumbakonam and Mayiladuthurai fall in the mainline section which also comes under the jurisdiction of Tiruchi Division. Over 130 cameras had been installed at the four stations and were commissioned by the then Railway Minister Piyush Goyal during a video conference from New Delhi.
