Soon, travelling by local trains in the city will be much safer as the Indian Railways will be installing CCTVs inside coaches and at all stations along the Western and Central line. Also, panic buttons will be installed in ladies compartments so that in case of an incident, a woman can just hit the button which will alert the officials. Besides, high definition CCTVs are also on the cards.
This is a big step towards ensuring safety of women commuters inside the train and at the station. According to senior railway officials, all 208 coaches will be equipped with CCTVs. Around 120 trains will have panic buttons, especially inside womens’ compartment.
On the Central line, 7 EMU rakes will be installed with panic buttons. “We have issued an order to install panic buttons in more than 120 trains. We have also floated tenders to install these buttons in 24 more trains,” said an official from the Railway board.
On the Western line, 87 coaches will have a panic button, of which 27 are ladies' compartments.
The Western Railway has installed CCTVs in 190 coaches, of which 130 are ladies' compartments. They will install CCTVs in 208 additional coaches for which tenders have been floated.
On June 25, RPF director general Arun Kumar said as part of its future plans, trains and stations will be equipped with CCTVs.
As far as railway stations are concerned, the WR authorities will be completing fitting high definition CCTVs at all suburban stations by mid July. These will have features like pointing out crowded locations, areas that are unclean etc and would bring it to the notice of the rail authorities at the control room and stations.
