Suburban local trains to have live CCTV monitoring

The next set of local trains for Central (CR) and Western Railway (WR) will have closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras that will allow the guard and motorman

The next set of local trains for Central (CR) and Western Railway (WR) will have closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras that will allow the guard and motorman to monitor what is happening in compartments in real-time.

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Live monitoring will first be seen in the air-conditioned (AC) local trains for CR that are expected in March 2020.

Acting on the directions of the Railway ministry, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai will manufacture trains that connect CCTV surveillance to screens in the cabins of the motorman and guard. ICF manufactures suburban local trains and AC local trains.

“The plan of integrating CCTV cameras to a screen inside the motorman and guard cabins was asked to be done by the Railway ministry. It is being done to increase security inside train compartments. All new suburban local trains including AC trains will be equipped with live monitoring,” said a senior ICF official.

The first set of trains equipped with the new system will be AC local trains for CR, which are currently at manufacturing stage at ICF.

CCTV cameras will be installed inside the compartments and linked to screens in the cabins of the motorman and guard .

The guard will monitor the live CCTV footage and direct the motorman in case of an emergency. The new system is expected to be implemented in about six months. The next set of trains is expected to arrive by March 2020.

The ICF, Chennai, has installed similar screens in the guards cabin of the AC local train prototype that has electrics on the underslung. Trials of the trains are going on WR.

Live monitoring of local trains was first suggested by Union railway minister Piyush Goyal in 2017, during a meeting held following the stampede at Elphinstone Road station (now Prabhadevi) in which 23 people lost their lives.

Goyal had also asked the Railways to explore methods of connecting the live feed from CCTV cameras inside local trains to nearby police stations.

Last month, WR had floated a tender to install CCTV cameras along with relevant accessories in the motorman cabin of local trains. However, the CCTV cameras are yet to be installed.