Attempting to provide a safe and secure travel experience to passengers, Indian Railways is pitching for the acquisition of around 12 lakh CCTV cameras. These cameras will ensure advanced surveillance systems in all trains and stations across the country.
In its budget for 2018-19, the Railways will make a provision of around Rs.3,000 crore for installing CCTV systems in all 11,000 trains (including premier and suburban services) and all the 8,500 stations in the entire rail network. This will provide safety and security at rail premises.
The plan suggests that each coach will have eight CCTV cameras which will cover the entry gates, aisle and vestibules. Other than this, all crucial points at stations will also have these systems.
Presently, there are about 395 stations and about 50 trains that are equipped with CCTV systems.
A senior Railway Ministry official said, “All mail/express and premier trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and local passenger services, will be equipped with the modern surveillance systems in the next two years.”
Last year, railways encountered an increased number of derailments. Given this, the Rail Budget this time is locked in to give top priority to safety and prevention of accidents. This will be followed by the betterment of passenger amenities for a pleasant journey.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would roll out the details of provision for strengthening safety mechanism in train operations in his Budget 2018-19.
