Southern Railway is on course to install high-end integrated security surveillance systems at 14 stations across the zone by October.
The Integrated Security Surveillance System Project, which is being implemented at an estimated cost of Rs. 40 crore, involves putting in place CCTV system with IP-based surveillance cameras, under vehicle scanning systems at entry/exit points, doorframe metal detectors and X-ray baggage screening conveyors and explosives detection and disposal mechanisms at important stations.
The anti-terror apparatus being rolled out in select stations across the country by the Railways was conceived in the wake of the Mumbai attacks of 2008.
The stations in the State where the systems are under implementation are Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore along with five minor MRTS line stations such as Chennai Beach, Mambalam, Tambaram, Basin Bridge and Tiruvallur. Elsewhere in the Southern Railway network, the systems will be introduced at Thiruvananthapuram Central, Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Mangalore.
Southern Railway, the first among the zones to invite tenders and get the project off the blocks, was also heading to take the lead in putting in place the system in a couple of months, official sources said. In fact, the tender specification fixed by Southern Railway had been adopted as blueprint by other zones such as South Central, Central and North Western Railways.
“The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) has set stringent inspection standards for the ensemble of gadgets and we expect the equipment to be cleared very soon. The groundwork from our side that involved identifying surveillance ports, control room consoles and cabling works is near completion at most stations,” said S. Manohar, Chief Signal and Telecom Engineer, Southern Railway. The RDSO’s emphasis on quality was reflected in the sheer sophistication of the equipment being acquired for the project – some of the gadgets with Underwriters Laboratory (Chicago) certification that is graded higher than CE certification (a quality benchmark for Europe) being installed for the first time in the country, another official said.
As an example, officials cite the UVSS which will function unobtrusively as it screens vehicles moving in what will be a 0-30 kph speed zone, and on detection of any unusual object, trigger an alarm and automatically shut down boom gates in front of the suspect vehicle. Then, there are the fixed-rotating surveillance cameras from Samsung – these are nearing the completion of tests at the manufacturer’s site in South Korea – that will provide feeds that are monitored on 42-inch High Definition LCDs in the control room. Each TV panel can accommodate 16 high resolution camera views.
The first phase of the project involves 640 cameras, 18 under vehicle scanning systems, 67 doorframe metal detectors and 25 X-ray baggage screening systems. The maximum number of cameras will be at Chennai Central (120), followed by Thiruvananthapuram Central (100) and Chennai Egmore (90).
According to a Southern Railway official mandated with the implementation of the system, the first part of the project will involve setting up the surveillance infrastructure at the select stations and the next would focus on networking all the Internet Protocol-based equipment so that Chennai Central could serve as the command centre for the entire Southern Railway.
Operational training for RPF and GRP teams and technical training for engineers would begin soon, he said.
