To regulate the flow of passengers and boost security, the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway has installed two biometric token machines at Visakhapatnam railway station and also commissioned drone camera for surveillance of the railway assets. Divisional Railway Manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava commissioned these facilities at the Visakhapatnam railway station on Saturday. Both the security gadgets are introduced for the first time in the East Coast Railway at Visakhapatnam, the officials said.
According to the officials, the objective of the system is to regulate crowd in the general compartments and prevent stampede on platforms, while the passengers board unreserved coaches.
“The passenger purchasing the tickets for general coaches will have to get their fingerprints scanned at biometric machine, after which a token will be generated with the number of seats in a particular general class coach.
The passenger can then assemble in queue as per their serial number on the token a few minutes before the rake is placed on platform,” said Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, Visakhapatnam, Jitendra Srivastava
He said that the RPF staff at the entry point of general class coach verifies the token serial number and allows the passengers to board the coach in an orderly manner. Such system will prevent the corrupt practices and cornering of seats by some persons.
This system will be implemented in eight originating trains like Godavari, Ratnachal, Janmabhoomi, Simhadri, Tirumala and Korba Express.
Meanwhile as part of conducting surveillance against criminals, patrolling of yard, vital installations, railways tracks and accident sites, a drone was procured by the RPF. About 10 RPF personnel had already undergone drone pilot training to operate the equipment.
Mr. Chetan Kumar Shrivastava said said that biometric token system with latest technology will be very much helpful to streamline the rush at general coaches, prevent the crime and also help in detecting the cases if any. He also stressed the need to provide such professional tools to the security personnel.
