Title - Suburban railway stations to come under CCTV surveillance

Work is on at a franctic pace at the Beach Railway Station to implement the first phase of the Integrated Security Surveillance System (ISSS). The project is aimed at giving security and law enforcement officials eyes over every part of the station. The project would help track kidnapping, pickpocketing and chain snatching cases, apart from keeping an eye on the safety of train driver cabins, officials told City Express.The project is being taken up jointly by the Southern Railways and IT major HCL Infosystems, and would take up the installation of the CCTV cameras that would record visuals around the clock and and store the data for 30 days. The cameras will also lend to a security control room, where the feed from the cameras can be monitored.The Integrated Security Surveillance System will also be implemented at the Basin Bridge Railway Station, before being expanded to other stations along the suburban lines. The total cost of the project is expected to come up to `40 crore.The system is currently on a dry run at the Beach Station. Officials say it will be formally inaugurated within a week. “As many as 16 CCTV cameras have been installed at the Beach Station. All cameras will be operated round the clock and footage will be transmitted and stored using an Internet Protocol system,” an official of the Signal and Telecom Department of the Southern Railways told City Express.

“A control room has been setup at the Railway Protection Force Station with two 42-inch high definition LCD TVs. RPF personnel can monitor the footage from the cameras on these screens. Camera footage will be kept for 30 days on the server, and can be written on to discs if necessary,” said the official.

The ISSS project has been first implemented at the Beach Station considering it is the terminal point for trains along two key suburban lines – Beach – Tambaram Line and Beach – Velachery Line. The Beach Station sees close to a lakh passengers and 250 train services every day, and officials say the ISSS cameras will help boost security.

The ISSS cameras are also set to be installed at Mambalam, Tambaram and Egmore Suburban Stations as well. While the Egmore Railway Station is covered by CCTV cameras, the suburban platforms will get their first camera coverage under this project.

The ISSS project is also the first attempt at setting up CCTV infrastructure at suburban stations, what with the system already in place at larger stations like Central and Egmore.