RailSuraksha by Pune division set to put safety on track

PUNE: RailSuraksha, a mobile application designed for the safety of train passengers, which has been developed by the Pune rail division, will soon be endorsed and launched across the country by the railway ministry.
Currently undergoing an experimental run in the Pune division, RailSuraksha will be launched across the country within three months, said railway officials. The application will be tested in five more rail divisions during these three months, the officials told TOI.



“We have been working on this application for some time now and the results has been very impressive. This user-friendly application is available on Android and IOS platforms at the moment,” said D Vikas, the divisional security commissioner of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in the Pune division.

“Once we are done with all the experimental runs, the RailSuraksha application will be formally launched across the country by the rail ministry. Hopefully, it will be launched across all rail divisions in India by May,” Vikas added.

Explaining the working of the app, the rail officials said, “Once a train passenger downloads the application into his or her smartphone, based on the location of the phone, he or she can access several features, including information on trains, PNR status, the map of the particular rail division, relevant railway-related news etc.

“In addition to these features, the RailSuraksha application also has a panic button. If a passenger is in any kind of trouble, he or she can press the panic button and an emergency request will immediately be sent to the Railway Protection Force. The RPF personnel can then track down and reach the passenger without any delay. Also, the application continuously flashes the RPF emergency number — 182 — which many people do not know about,” another railway official, who wished to remain anonymous, told TOI.

“In the Pune division, most train passengers are still not aware of the existing RPF emergency number that can be used in case of any trouble. The response to the emergency number in the division has been decent, though not very satisfactory. We feel the RailSuraksha application will help spread awareness about the RPF emergency number and popularise it. The application in itself is holistic and we believe it will make a huge difference,” the official said.

Train passengers, however, are sceptical. They feel unless the security personnel take passenger safety and complaints seriously, no amount of technology can be of any help.

“Some time ago, a few robbers had targeted the passengers on a Pune-bound train. This had happened even as the Railway Protection Force personnel on board the train slept. How will the RPF and the railway authorities deal with such situations? A smartphone application or an emergency number can only be effective if the people responsible for providing security to train passengers are alert and perform their duties very seriously,” said Shabbir Shaikh, a resident of Kondhwa, who frequently travels by train.