Lok Sabha Question No. 3566 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-02
Subject: Railway Security
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: DHARMENDRA YADAV

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3566 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.01.2019

## RAILWAY SECURITY

†3566.    SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state :

- (a)  whether  a  lot  is  yet  to  be  done  by  the  Government  in  Railway security  setup  despite  allocating  huge  funds  for  the  same  in  the past;
- (b)  if  so,  whether  the  Government  has  allocated  huge  amount  to Railways for security of railway passengers in view of various rail accidents  reported  during  the  last  one  year  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (c) whether the condition of tracks, security and monitoring are the main reasons of rail accidents;
- (d) if so, whether the Government proposes to consider state-of-theart and advance technology for monitoring inspection and maintenance of railway tracks and if so, the details thereof;
- (e)  the  time  by  when  new  technology  in  Railways  is  likely  to  be made available and implemented;
- (f)  whether  other  aspects  of  passenger  security  is  likely  to  be covered under current allocation of railway security ; and
- (g) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) and (b): Prevention and detection of crime related to passengers, registration  of  such  cases,  their  investigation  and  maintenance  of law and order in railway premises as well as on running trains are the  statutory  responsibility  of  the  State  Governments.  For  this purpose, a separate wing of State Police in the name of Government Railway  Police  (GRP)  functions  in  respective  States.  At  the  same time, security of tracks, and bridges is the responsibility of District Police. Ministry of Railways supplement efforts of States in providing  security  over  railways  through  the  Railway  Protection Force  (RPF).  Thus,  a  three  tier  security  system  of  RPF,  GRP  and District Police is prevailing over Indian Railways.

Security has been identified as one of the priority areas by Railways for  strengthening  and  upgradation.  Besides  sharing  50%  cost  on GRPs with respective States, need-based allocation of fund is made under Works Programme (WP) and Machinery and Plant Programmes (M&P) of each year for security related works over Indian Railways.

To  enhance  security  of  passengers,  fund  to  the  tune  of ₹ 59  crore has been allotted during financial year 2018-19 and an advance of ₹ 50 crore has been given to RailTel Corporation of India Limited, a Public  Sector  Undertaking  of  Ministry  of  Railways  for  provision  of Video  Surveillance  cameras.    In  addition  token  money  has  been allotted  for  installing  Video  Surveillance  cameras  at  8244  railway stations (including halt station) and in 58276 passenger coaches of trains.

(c)  Safety  is  accorded  the  highest  priority  by  Indian  Railways.  For security  of  tracks  and  bridges,  necessary  coordination  is  being made with District Police authorities. State Level Security Committee  for  Railways  (SLSCR)  have  been  constituted  for  all State/Union Territories (UTs) under the Chairmanship of respective Director General of Police/ Commissioner of States/ UTs for regular monitoring and review of security arrangement for the Railways.

However, in spite of efforts, there are several factors which include negligent crossing of railway track at level crossings by road users, trespassing, and unauthorised infringement to railway tracks, sabotage or miscreant activity, natural calamities, failure of assets like rail fracture/ weld failure etc. which lead to rail accidents.

- (d)  and  (e)  :  Presently,  Indian  Railways  (IR)  has  manual  and mechanized mode of inspection and maintenance of Railway track. All  efforts  are  being  made  to  reduce  manual method of inspection and  maintenance  of  railway  track.  In  order  to  improve  inspection and  maintenance  of  railway  track,  Indian  Railway  has  decided  to adopted  International  practice  and  advanced  technology  on  IR system  by  conducting  proper  study  and  trials  in  the  field.  In  this regard,  some  of  the  technology  which  are  currently  studied  and trials  conducted  by  Research  Designs  &  Standards  Organisation (RDSO) are as under -
- (i) Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) for monitoring health of track ballast bed and to prioritize deep screening of track.
- (ii) Axle Box Mounted Accelerometers on pilot basis in 40 rakes of fastest train on selected high density trunk routes to monitor track requiring urgent attention and generate alerts on daily basis.
- (iii) High Speed Cameras for monitoring Track Components Condition through machine vision.
- (iv) Vehicular  Ultrasonic  Flaw  Detection  (USFD)  Cars  to  cover entire Indian Railways  network  for  monitoring  and  identifying propagation of rail/ weld defects for improving safety of track.
- (v) Integrated  Track  Recording  Cars  with  facility  of  Component Monitoring  and  Clearance  Measurement  System,  to  cover  entire Indian Railway Network.

(vi) Thick web Switches and Weldable CMS Crossings have been introduced  and  are  being  procured.  This  will  help  in  better  Track maintenance and enhanced track life. (vii) Analogue  USFD  testing  machines  have  been  replaced  by digital USFD testing machines, transferring data and testing results to  online  application  Track  Management  System  (TMS)  and  PCs. New  specifications  for  USFD  testing  machines  have  been  issued having features for location tagging, time stamping of recording and improved scan (B-scan) capability. (viii) By  using  modern  and  well  equipped  track  machines  for maintenance. (f)  and  (g):  In  an  effort  to  improve  the  safety  performance  over Indian  Railways  (IR),  Linke  Hofmann  Busch  (LHB)  type  coaches, which  are  of  a  superior  design  having  better  safety  features  like anti-climbing,  etc.  are  being  proliferated  in  Mainline  trains.  It  has also been decided that only LHB coaches would be manufactured by Production Units of IR from April 2018 onwards. Other  aspects  of  passenger  security  which  are  being  covered include upgradation of All India Security Helpline 182, operationalisation  of  single  Security  App  and  its  integration  with Security  Helpline,  installation  of  Close  Circuit  Television  (CCTV) surveillance to cover more stations and trains, provision of modern security related equipment, etc. *****