PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, July 7: RailTel, a Mini Ratna central government PSU under the Union ministry of Railways, entrusted with the implementation of the Video Surveillance System (VSS) project (CCTV cameras network) under Nirbhaya Fund at railway stations has taken a major step by finalizing the agencies for executing the job.
The first phase of the project will cover major stations of categories A1, A, B, and C numbering 756. The list of stations includes Ranchi and Tatanagar which falls under the jurisdiction of the South Eastern Railway.
The work is likely to be completed by January 2023. The remaining stations will be covered in the second phase.
Safety and security of passengers are one of the key focus areas of the Ministry of Railways. To enhance security at railway stations which are major hubs of transportation, Indian Railways is in the process of installing an Internet Protocol (IP) based Video Surveillance System (VSS) at stations, that is, waiting halls, reservation counters, parking areas, main entrance/ exit, platforms, foot over bridges, booking offices etc.
The union railway ministry has approved works for the provision of a video surveillance system over Indian Railways’ major stations under Nirbhaya funds.
Aruna Singh, chairman and managing director, RailTel assured that with the finalization of the executing agencies, the implementation of the project will be fast-tracked. The most modern software and hardware will be used in this project.
This VSS system will be IP based and will have a network of CCTV cameras. 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 centralized CCTV control room at divisional and zonal levels.
The CCTV cameras of stations and video feeds will be monitored at these three levels to ensure enhanced safety and security at railway premises.
The system comes with Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled video analytics software and facial recognition software which will help to detect known criminals triggering an alert when they enter station premises.
Network Management System (NMS) has been also been provided for monitoring of cameras, servers, UPS and switches which can be viewed from any web browser by authorized personnel.
Four types of IP cameras (Dome type, bullet types, Pan Tilt Zoom type and Ultra HD- 4k) are being installed to ensure maximum coverage of the railway premises.
Railway officials said this will give an extra edge to the RPF officials for ensuring enhanced security. The recording of the video feeds from CCTV cameras will be stored for 30 days.
