CCTV cameras along Rly tracks to check stone-pelting

The railways has decided to install CCTVs along the tracks to identify elements indulging in stone-pelting on trains which leaves passengers injured and damages railway property.

The initiative, officials believe, will not only ensure safety of passengers but at the same time act as a deterrent in stopping cases of theft of clips, clamps etc from the tracks, which may lead to accidents.

The move will identify the thieves and thereby protect the assets of the railways and also identify those who pelt stones at moving trains, officials maintain.

In the first phase, CCTVs will be installed on the routes of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and other premium trains including Vande Bharat. A control room will be set up for this at railway stations from where the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel will monitor the feed of these cameras and take appropriate action as and when need arises, officials explained.

Commenting on the move, the chief public relations officer of North Central Railway (NCR), Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay said, “The technology of installing CCTVs is being used for protecting assets of railways, train passengers and also for the safe operations of trains.”

Not only will we be able to monitor the movement at stations but also on the tracks through this initiative, he added.

Initially, CCTV cameras will be kept within a radius of one km from the railway station, which will gradually be expanded to complete the monitoring process between two stations.

After many incidents of stealing iron from the tracks, breaking walls, removing clamps, clips etc from the tracks, the RPF and the security team had sent several proposals for enhancing security to the Railway Board. Following this, the Railway Board issued instructions to install CCTV cameras recently.

In compliance with the instructions, the NCR has even started installation of CCTV cameras at Prayagraj Junction. From here, the process of monitoring tracks has started towards both Delhi and Howrah end of the junction.

Apart from this, a survey is being done to install CCTV cameras in all the 17 railway zones of the country including Northern Railway, North Eastern Railway, etc. Places where incidents of cattle being runover are more, those places will also be marked and kept under CCTV camera’s surveillance, officials said.

At present, the process of installing CCTV cameras at all level crossings is also going on.