Begumpet’s all-women railway station gets 24x7 video surveillance

The Begumpet Railway station in Hyderabad, one of the few all-women run stations in India, has been provided with a video surveillance system utilising the Nirbhaya funds. The service has been provided by RailTel, a Public Service Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways and has been aimed at improving security for passengers, particularly women. The Railway Board had entrusted RailTel with the work of providing Internet Protocol (IP)-based video surveillance system with analytics and facial recognition system at stations of A1, A, B, C, D and E category, coaches of premium trains and suburban Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches. A total of 20 IP-based CCTVs have been installed in the station which will keep 24x7 surveillance. The CCTVs are connected via the internet and live feeds are displayed on multiple screens of the Railway Protection Force’s (RPF) centralised control room. The footage from the video feeds will be stored for a period of 30 days, which can be also used for investigation, while important ones can be stored for a much longer duration of time. Talking to the media about the new system, South Central Railway’s (SCR) Secunderabad division manager noted that the CCTV surveillance will help railways to provide more proactive security where women and children are their top priority. “This is an Internet Protocol (IP) based Video Surveillance system in which CCTV cameras are networked. This will enhance the safety and security of women passengers as well as the women crew of the Begumpet station who are on duty 24×7,” she said. The Begumpet Railway Station has is one of the busiest railway stations in the entire SCR division. It has an all-women’s crew that handle day-to-day activities including train operations, ticketing, security and other relevant duties. Appointments were made to all posts on the occasion of International Women’s Day last year in order to improve their morale and self-confidence.