Security apparatus is being ramped up at the Mysuru railway station with the installation of IP-based Video Surveillance System (VSS) through Rail Tel, giving a major boost to safety and security of passengers, especially women and children.
This is part of a nationwide project being taken by the Indian Railways and will cover major railway stations across the country. The work is in progress at Gadag and Vijayapura apart from Mysuru. Under SWR, the project has been installed at Shivamogga, Hassan, Davanagere, Bangarpet, Kengeri, Bengaluru Cantonment, Satya Sai Prashanti Nilayam, Hubballi, Vasco da Gama, Hosapete, Belagavi and Ballari stations.
According to authorities in the South Western Railways, the project covers A1, A, B, C, D and E category railway stations. Indian Railways signed a MoU with RailTel in June last year for installation of CCTV at stations. But a revised tender was floated in May 2021 after revision of specifications to address national security concerns and promote domestic manufacturing.
The authorities said these CCTVs are being networked on optical fibre cable and the video feed of the CCTV cameras will be displayed not only at local RPF posts but also at a centralised CCTV control room at divisional and zonal level. The new arrangement provides for monitoring of CCTV cameras of stations and video feeds at 3 levels to ensure enhanced safety and security at railway premises.
The SWR said RailTel has completed work of setting up centralised control room at 14 zonal railways and the room displays video feeds from CCTV installed by RailTel at stations of respective zones. The authorities said a Network Management System (NMS) has been also been provided for monitoring of cameras, server, UPS and switches which can be viewed from any web browser by authorised personnel.
In all, 4 types of IP cameras - Dome type, bullet types, Pan Tilt Zoom type, and Ultra HD- 4k - are being installed to ensure maximum coverage on the railway premises. This will give an extra edge to the RPF officials to improve security. The recording of the video feeds form CCTV cameras will be stored for 30 days, according to the authorities.
Underlining the benefits of the new system, the authorities said the integrated command and control centre and IP based Surveillance System will not only help in providing better security to passengers and prevent criminal activities, but will also enable quick and coordinated response for crowd management and control. While 813 railway stations already have the system, the work is in progress across 47 other stations.
