69 railway coaches fitted with CCTVs on pilot basis: Govt

New Delhi: The government on Friday said that, the Indian Railways has installed CCTV cameras in 69 coaches on a pilot basis to improve the safety and security of passengers, including women and children.

"In order to improve the safety and security of passengers, including women and children, the government has installed CCTV cameras on a limited number of coaches of passenger and suburban trains on a pilot basis," Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

"It has already been completed in about 25 passenger coaches and 44 suburban coaches."

The minister said that, the `Integral Coach Factory` (ICF) at Chennai was assigned the responsibility of developing the specification for CCTV cameras in coaches by the Railway Board.

"ICF, accordingly, issued a specification and provided CCTVs on trial basis in 04 coaches during the year 2015," the minister added.

He added, that in view of the safety of the passengers, the Railway Board formed an expert group of senior railway officials on CCTV system for rail transport application.

"After due deliberation and interaction with industry representatives and other technical experts, the expert group submitted its recommendations to the board regarding improvement in the existing specification," Gohain said.

"The board accepted the recommendations made by the expert group and advised ICF to modify its specification accordingly."

"ICF, subsequently, issued a revised specification for fitment of CCTV in coaches in August 2016," the minister added.