WR puts 35 CCTV cameras in ladies bogie

Mumbai: The Western Railway (WR) has placed 35 CCTV cameras, out of 51, in women’s compartments in the first phase of making train travel safe for women.
Officials are now waiting for more funds to increase the number of CCTV cameras in the WR fleet.

The WR had signed for the contract in December last year. A senior railway official said, “We have aimed to fix all cameras by March this year and this project is part of the Rs 24 crores under which a lot similar commuter safety measures have been taken.” He further added, “We are expecting Nirbhaya funds to be released. We don’t know the exact amount yet as it is coming from the centre. But if all goes well, we will add more CCTV’s in our system.”

The remaining cameras will be fixed in subways and foot-over-bridges but officials hope that the WR that consisted of roughly 50-plus trains running from Churchgate to Virar and Dahanu, will soon have them too. The WR is also waiting for the entire fleet of its 72 new Bombardier-make trains, to be delivered to them from Indian Coach Factory (ICF) before drawing a proposal in which all trains will be included.

The CCTV installation project had come about when two women, a nurse and an American national were molested on a running train late in 2015. The incident had sparked off the debate for the need of cameras in trains, to not only deter anti-social elements attempting to harm women travelling at odd hour but also the help it can provide the police with in tracing these unidentified accused.