Prayagraj, Jun 10 (IANS): With the installation of high-tech internet-based video surveillance system at 269 railway stations of the country including 16 stations of the North Central Railways (NCR), train travel has become more secure.

This is part of the major initiative of the Railway Board in which 6,049 stations across the country, of all categories, are being equipped with this state-of-the-art system.

The work has been assigned to RailTel and the system is being installed from the funds allocated under the Nirbhaya Fund.

Sucharita Pradhan, senior manager of RailTel, told reporters: "The feed from the network of cameras being installed in this system is being centrally monitored and the footage can be stored for 30 days. To enhance security at railway stations, the system has been installed to cover main entrance/exit, platforms, foot overbridges, waiting halls and parking areas based on site and security requirements and threat perceptions".

The central control monitoring room has been activated in 10 zones of the country, including NCR.

These CCTVs are attached to the networked optical fibre cable (OFC) and the video feed of the CCTV cameras is being displayed not only at local RPF posts but also at a centralised CCTV control room at divisional and zonal level.

Pradhan further said that of the 269 stations, where the system has already been installed, 16 each are from NCR and North Eastern Railways (NER) and 47 from Northern Railways (NR).

The system works based on video analytics and facial recognition which means that while monitoring the feed if any suspicious-looking person is picked up, the facial recognition system would identify the same based on the existing data of the system.

This facility would be added to the system in the coming time.

For this purpose, high-tech cameras are being installed which include bullet, fixed dome, Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) and 4K ultra high-definition cameras.

"Network Management System (NMS) has also been provided for monitoring the footage of the cameras which are stored in a server and backed by UPS. The feed can be viewed from any web browser, be it laptop, mobile phone by authorised personnel," she added.

Pradhan added that work at 31 more stations is in progress and will be completed soon.

RailTel has also floated tender for this work at 456 additional stations.