Hi-tech security for Ahmedabad railway station
City station to get 100 per cent CCTV coverage, automatic vehicle and luggage scanners and its own bomb squad by March 2009
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, November 11, 2008
An alert bomb squad, a baggage scanning system, a network of CCTV cameras and a concrete compound wall. Elaborate security for the airport? Not really. These are new measures planned for Ahmedabad railway station by the Indian Railways under its new Integrated Security System.Among the new measures, the city station will for the first time have its own bomb detection and disposal squad, an automatic vehicle scanner, 100 per cent CCTV coverage and luggage scanning devices. Given the need to check terrorist activities, the bomb squad will also have its own sniffer dogs and modern equipment. Four RPF jawans are currently being trained in bomb disposal. Railway stations till now relied on police and other security agencies for such emergencies. Passenger entry into the station will be monitored minutely. The railways will install an automatic vehicle scanner to record the registration numbers of vehicles entering the station and an ‘under-vehicle surveillance system’ to scan the luggage carried in them. All vehicles will be made to pass through a platform equipped with scanning devices overhead and underground. The registration number and time of arrival of vehicles will be stored on the main server at the station.The railway ministry has been working on a security plan for Ahmedabad station along with 55 others for three years now. Now, a detailed blueprint is ready. “Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Godhra railway stations will be among the first ones to be taken up for security upgradation. The project is expected to be completed by the end of March 2009,” said RPF divisional security commissioner Rakesh Mishra, adding that “the railway ministry has forwarded us the new plan just 15 days ago.”Security at stations in the metros will be operated on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, while that at the 56 other stations will be looked after the railway ministry. The action plan also includes installing closed-circuit TVs at various spots at all stations. Till now, Ahmedabad station had just CCTVs at a few of its 12 platforms. Under the new plan, CCTVs will be installed at all platforms, the yard, cloak room, reservation counters, parking lot and the entire length of the compound wall. In effect, all movement of man and material will recorded on camera and stored in the server. The camera control room at the city station be linked to stations all over the country through the internet.The other security feature called ‘access control’ envisages building six-foot-high compound walls of concrete, punctuated by CCTV cameras and watch towers at intervals, around the station. This will allow better monitoring of entrants and controlling the access to the station premises. Another new feature will include a luggage scanning system which will identify objectionable material carried by passengers or unauthorised persons on to trains. The railways foresee difficulty in checking all passengers and their baggage in a short while before each train leaves. Hence, it is mulling to introduce a norm by which passengers are asked to reach the station well in advance of train departure, like at airports.New security features • Automatic vehicle scanner• An under-vehicle surveillance system• Station’s own bomb detection and disposal squad• Luggage scanning system• CCTV cameras at reservation counters, all platforms and compound wall• Concrete compound wall to control access.
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, November 11, 2008
An alert bomb squad, a baggage scanning system, a network of CCTV cameras and a concrete compound wall. Elaborate security for the airport? Not really. These are new measures planned for Ahmedabad railway station by the Indian Railways under its new Integrated Security System.Among the new measures, the city station will for the first time have its own bomb detection and disposal squad, an automatic vehicle scanner, 100 per cent CCTV coverage and luggage scanning devices. Given the need to check terrorist activities, the bomb squad will also have its own sniffer dogs and modern equipment. Four RPF jawans are currently being trained in bomb disposal. Railway stations till now relied on police and other security agencies for such emergencies. Passenger entry into the station will be monitored minutely. The railways will install an automatic vehicle scanner to record the registration numbers of vehicles entering the station and an ‘under-vehicle surveillance system’ to scan the luggage carried in them. All vehicles will be made to pass through a platform equipped with scanning devices overhead and underground. The registration number and time of arrival of vehicles will be stored on the main server at the station.The railway ministry has been working on a security plan for Ahmedabad station along with 55 others for three years now. Now, a detailed blueprint is ready. “Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Godhra railway stations will be among the first ones to be taken up for security upgradation. The project is expected to be completed by the end of March 2009,” said RPF divisional security commissioner Rakesh Mishra, adding that “the railway ministry has forwarded us the new plan just 15 days ago.”Security at stations in the metros will be operated on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, while that at the 56 other stations will be looked after the railway ministry. The action plan also includes installing closed-circuit TVs at various spots at all stations. Till now, Ahmedabad station had just CCTVs at a few of its 12 platforms. Under the new plan, CCTVs will be installed at all platforms, the yard, cloak room, reservation counters, parking lot and the entire length of the compound wall. In effect, all movement of man and material will recorded on camera and stored in the server. The camera control room at the city station be linked to stations all over the country through the internet.The other security feature called ‘access control’ envisages building six-foot-high compound walls of concrete, punctuated by CCTV cameras and watch towers at intervals, around the station. This will allow better monitoring of entrants and controlling the access to the station premises. Another new feature will include a luggage scanning system which will identify objectionable material carried by passengers or unauthorised persons on to trains. The railways foresee difficulty in checking all passengers and their baggage in a short while before each train leaves. Hence, it is mulling to introduce a norm by which passengers are asked to reach the station well in advance of train departure, like at airports.New security features • Automatic vehicle scanner• An under-vehicle surveillance system• Station’s own bomb detection and disposal squad• Luggage scanning system• CCTV cameras at reservation counters, all platforms and compound wall• Concrete compound wall to control access.
(Courtesy: Ahmedabad Mirror)
