Spy camera at Virar car shed to watch over projects

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), on Wednesday, installed a Rs 5-lakh camera at Rs 318-crore Virar car shed, which will act as a precedent for other railway projects. Shashank Rao reports.

Soon the multi-crore railway projects in the city might have spy cameras overlooking its progress.

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The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), on Wednesday, installed a Rs 5-lakh camera at Rs 318-crore Virar car shed, which will act as a precedent for other railway projects.

If successful, then they will be installed in projects under the Rs 10,000-crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project phase I and II.

“We have installed one spy camera at Virar car shed. If successful we will replicate in other projects too. Moreover, it would also work as a security measure,” said P. Sehgal, managing director, MRVC.

A presentation was also made to the General Manager of Western and Central Railway R.N. Verma. This project, which was supposed to be completed by December, has been delayed by nearly six months.

This camera, with an optical lens of 36X, can zoom into the numbers written on the train entering and leaving the yard. The officials monitoring the camera can also click images, as it rotates and pans 360 degrees and tilts vertically up to 180 degrees.

There are several projects in the pipeline line such as construction of 5th and 6th line on Mumbai Central-Borivli stretch, Thane-Diva on the CR, extension of Harbour line beyond Andheri station till Goregaon, installation of substations and converting 1,500 volts Direct Current to 25,000 volts Alternating Current.

A camera would alert the railway authorities in case of a security threat not just at the site but also on the line where services run. They can also keep an eye on the miscreants who steal cables and wires next to the tracks.