In a bid to aim better and real-time surveillance of its railway station and yard premises, the Central Railway has procured two drones which will help the Railway Protection Force to apprehend the criminal and keep a watch on any suspicious movement near railway tracks. “We have recently procured two Ninja UAVs for better security and surveillance in railway areas like station premises, railway track sections, yards, workshops, etc,” said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relation officer, CR.
Railway officials said the drones will act as the CR''s "eye in the sky" and will monitor the whole area. “The drones or unmanned aerial vehicles can intimate the nearest RPF post of the division to apprehend criminals in real time if any suspicious activity is noticed,” he said
Sutar further said that recently two criminals were apprehended on a real time basis in Wadi Bunder Yard area in Mumbai and in the Kalamboli yard in Panvel while they were trying to commit theft inside a railway coach /wagon stationed in the yard.
RPF officials said the beats of the drones are designed across the division based on railway assets, sensitivity of a given area, and activity of criminals. “A team of four staff from Modernisation Cell of the RPF has been trained and obtained licence for flying these drones,” he said.
Sutar said the drones have an operational range of 2 km and can fly upto 25 minutes. “They can also do real time tracking, video streaming and (operate in) automatic failsafe mode," he added. Sutar said.
