Title - Luggage scanners, cameras for additional security at Railway Junction

Railway officials are stepping up security systems at the Railway Junction by installing luggage scanners and 73 speed dome and static cameras.

This comes as a prelude to the upgradation of Coimbatore Junction into an ‘Aadarsh” Railway Station as announced in the Railway Budget this year.

The facilities and security arrangements are expected to be on a par with those put up at airports, officials added.

Three luggage scanners each costing close to Rs. 1 crore have been procured, they said.

One will be installed at the main entrance while the other will be put up at the Western entrance of the railway station.

The bigger luggage scanner would be earmarked for the parcel office. The passenger baggage scanners will be commissioned within 10 days.

The installation of cameras would begin once the Railway Design and Standards Organisation at Lucknow accords approval for the equipment.

These cameras would be connected to five large LCD screens for real time round-the-clock vigil.

When the cameras, procured at a cost of Rs. 24.25 lakh, are in place, all the six platforms would be brought under the vigil of the electronic eye.

The cameras will be focussed on reservation counters, current booking counters, circulating area, yard, staircase and platforms.

The blueprint for installation of these gadgets has been readied by the Railway Protection Force, sources said.

Of the 73 cameras, 40 would be speed dome types to maintain vigil at a 360 degree angle while the rest would be static equipment.

All security and surveillance equipment would be in place by the end of August or the first week of September, sources added.