Title - Chennai Central, Egmore to come under high-tech security blanket

One of the high points will be under-vehicle scanning system Southern Railway will roll out a high-tech integrated security system (ISS) at Chennai Central, Egmore and Basin Bridge on November 15.The Rs. 40-crore project involves putting in place CCTV with Internet protocol-based surveillance cameras, under vehicle scanning systems at entry/exit points, doorframe metal detectors and X-ray baggage screening conveyors and explosives detection and disposal mechanisms at important stations.Southern Railway, which has a total of 14 stations on the Indian Railway’s shortlist for the ISS project, is the first zonal railway to implement the project, S. Manohar, Chief Signal and Telecom Engineer, said. General Manager A.K. Mittal will launch the service at Chennai Central.The project will be implemented in other stations over the next few months, officials said.In Chennai, apart from Basin Bridge, the four other suburban stations awaiting the high-tech facility are Chennai Beach, Mambalam, Tambaram and Tiruvallur.

The other important railway stations in the State to feature ISS are Madurai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore while elsewhere in the Southern Railway network, the system will be introduced at Thiruvananthapuram Central, Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Mangalore.

The initiative was proposed for 202 key railway stations after the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, according to railway officials.

One of the high points of the project is the under-vehicle scanning system, which will scan vehicles moving across the 0-30 km per hour speed zone between entry and exit ways of a station. On detection of any unusual object the system triggers an alarm and automatically shuts down the boom gates in front of the suspect vehicle.

The fixed-rotating surveillance cameras will provide feeds that are monitored on 42-inch high-definition LCDs in the control room with each TV panel accommodating 16 high resolution camera views.

The Closed Circuit TV Systems will cover the entire station premises whether it is the concourse, wait areas, platforms or overbridges. The IP-based CCTV will also feature important video analytics that set off automatic signals in case of suspected baggage, crowding or movement.

The initial phase of the project involves setting up an estimated 640 cameras, 18 under vehicle scanning systems, 67 doorframe metal detectors and 25 X-ray baggage screening systems. The maximum number of cameras will be at Chennai Central (120), followed by Thiruvananthapuram Central (100) and Chennai Egmore (90).