CCTV Surveillance in Indian Railways: 10 Ways It Boosts Passenger Safety

Indian Railways runs one of the largest passenger networks in the world, with thousands of stations and trains carrying crores of passengers every day. Keeping passengers, staff and railway assets safe at this scale is impossible with manual patrolling alone - which is why CCTV and AI-powered surveillance have become central to railway security, from major junctions to coaches and locomotives.

Quick answer: Indian Railways uses CCTV surveillance to identify criminals with facial recognition, detect abandoned objects, fire, smoke and camera tampering, flag loitering and fallen passengers, find missing persons, and provide evidence for investigations. AI video analytics makes these cameras proactive, sending real-time alerts to the Railway Protection Force and control rooms.

Why is Railways Safety Important?

The Indian Railways handled around 715 crore passenger journeys in the financial year 2024-25, according to reports, and passenger numbers have been growing steadily in the post-pandemic period. Railway safety is vital for protecting the lives of the passengers, safeguarding assets of Indian Railways against accidents and theft, improving operational efficiency, building public trust, and adhering to regulatory compliance.

In this article, we shall discuss some of the key applications and challenges associated with implementation of CCTV camera in Indian Railways.

10 Ways in Which CCTV Surveillance Boosts Railway Safety

While railway CCTV cameras may have diverse applications, depending on the geographical terrain, location of the railway station and the administrative zone, we have jotted down some of the broad and generic ways in which railway CCTV surveillance boosts passenger safety, railway station safety, and employee safety.

Facial Recognition for Criminal Identification, Intrusion Detection and Access Management

AI-powered Railway CCTV cameras help identify notorious individuals and criminals whose records exist in the database of police and law-enforcement agencies. Trains are often the preferred mode of travel for transnational criminals and hence the Railway Protection Force has been deploying facial recognition systems to identify miscreants from among the crowd in the railway station premises.

​Facial Recognition is also employed in the railways as a means of recording biometric attendance and replaces the conventional fingerprint recognition and QR based attendance system, which suffer from lower effectiveness and higher chances of identity spoofing. Facial recognition using AI-powered railway CCTV cameras aid in access management to critical control rooms and power-supply stations, thereby ensuring that unauthorised persons cannot trespass into such protected zones.

Predictive Maintenance using AI Powered Railway CCTV Cameras

AI algorithms leverage existing railway CCTV infrastructure to monitor critical operational metrics of trains, and compare those with the theoretical threshold levels. In November 2024, the Howrah Division of Indian Railways started deploying AI and ML powered railway CCTV systems for predictive maintenance of Vande Bharat Express trains. As more and more data gets fed into the AI model, the accuracy of predicting the exact timing of maintenance improves.

Fire and Smoke Detection using AI Surveillance

AI railway CCTV systems detect early indicators of fire and arson, such as smoke, fumes, sparks, hidden flames etc. using Advanced Video Analytics and AI-ML algorithms. By using training data from CCTV systems with controlled conditions of fire, the AI model can detect any possible chance of fire and trigger real-time alerts to concerned officials for immediate action. AI CCTV based fire detection solutions work more effectively than traditional smoke detectors, have minimal downtime and also do not require installation of separate hardware.

Abandoned Object Detection using AI Railway Safety Cameras

Abandoned Objects are one of the highest security risks in railway stations because of the potential involvement of terrorists in planting explosives in such items. AI railway CCTV cameras leverage the power of Deep Embedded Vision to identify any abandoned or unclaimed object lying in the station premises beyond a certain period (usually 5 minutes or so), and also pinpoint its location, so that security personnel may recover it. This has another potential application in helping to recover lost luggage for passengers swiftly.

Critical Evidence Post Incident investigations

Railway CCTV Cameras capture and store video footage and hence provide critical evidence for legal purposes. CCTV Footage from any incident such as theft, damage of railway property and assets, causing inconvenience to others, attempts of arson and vandalism, terrorism attempts etc. is admissible in the Indian courts as valid evidence of crime and identification of criminals by the prosecution.

Camera Tampering Detection

As CCTV systems become ubiquitous in railway stations, incidents of camera tampering by miscreants have also become frequent. AI railway CCTV systems use multiple cues in the video frames, such as abnormal proximity of any person with the camera, sudden camera movement or change in orientation, to detect attempts of camera tampering. These systems can trigger real-time alerts of tampering incidents, thereby allowing railway security personnel to take prohibitory action.

Dedicated camera health tools like CheckCam add another layer by flagging cameras that go offline, lose focus or are blocked, so control rooms never have blind spots.

Loitering Detection

Loitering in the platforms and overhead bridges for long periods is often perceived as a potential threat of pickpocket or other malicious activities. AI railway security systems help to readily flag such persons and send alerts to the Railway police officers for necessary action.

Fallen Person and Injury Detection

Passengers falling from the train, on escalators, or on platforms is a common scenario in railway stations. AI railway CCTV cameras can be trained to detect fallen persons and cases of injury to passengers with reasonable accuracy, and raise alerts to medical teams and railway security personnel. This helps security persons reach out to such victims rapidly and provide first aid and medical relief.

Missing Persons - Combination Search

AI-powered Video Analytics solutions can take identifiable human facial and other body attributes as inputs, and then scan video frames from railway CCTV cameras, to find missing persons and help them meet with their families or companions again. This technique is more effective than conventional public announcement systems, especially when searching for old, sick or physically challenged persons.

Vehicle Classification

Railway CCTV systems can classify the kind of vehicle entering the railway station premises based on identifiable parameters such as vehicle dimensions, front portion colour, speed of entry etc. This is vital information that is needed by railway security enforcement agencies to route vehicles to the right parking zones and prevent accidents within the railway premises.

Challenges with Railway CCTV Camera Surveillance

Despite the benefits of CCTV surveillance systems in ensuring railway protection, there are multiple challenges that are posed in the implementation of these railway security projects. We shall discuss some of these issues in brief here.

Privacy Concerns

Like other CCTV applications, installation of railways CCTV camera surveillance has also faced significant backlash from human rights activists.The concerns mostly rest around the infringement of privacy rights of passengers and discrimination by the AI model in identification of law-breakers.

Bias and Inaccuracies

The efficacy of railway CCTV systems has always been questioned due to multiple reasons. The AI facial recognition system may incorrectly identify genuine citizens as criminals if their facial features are somewhat in resemblance with the actual criminal’s image recorded in the database. The railway CCTV cameras may flag a piece of luggage as unclaimed if the passenger owning it is standing in close proximity to it but not actually holding it for a long time (this is in fact a frequent situation in railway retiring rooms).

Even for the fire-detection application, there may be multiple challenges – for example, when a routine welding task is being performed in the railway station premises, the AI railway CCTV system may trigger a false fire alarm due to the welding fumes and burning spatter detected in the footage.

Internet Bandwidth Requirements

The transmission of the railway CCTV camera video data from the railway stations to the central control room and servers usually involves significant Internet bandwidth requirements. Although the Indian Railways uses its proprietary OFC-based network connectivity, in remote railway stations, it may be a challenge to implement. The bandwidth requirements increase further when AI-based video analytics solutions are integrated with the conventional railway security systems.

A centralised video management system like CamPulse helps by streaming and analysing only what is needed, and by bringing feeds from many stations onto one platform.

Storage Costs

The more elaborate the surveillance coverage and the higher the video quality or resolution of the railway CCTV camera, the higher the storage requirements. While compression technologies like CAMSTORE employ advanced video compression algorithms to bring down CCTV camera storage costs, the ultimate storage costs can be arrived at only after considering the number of cameras whose footage is stored, the retention duration and the form of storage (cloud or on-premise).

Cybersecurity Challenges

Since railway CCTV systems capture, store and process sensitive data, they are prone to cyber attacks and data leaks. Hence the installation of CCTV cameras in Indian Railways has made it imperative to implement high standards of data security in parallel. Global data security standards have to be enforced in all railway CCTV data centers, switches and other points of connectivity where potential data breach may happen.

Transforming Railways Security with AI-powered CCTV Surveillance

Traditional CCTV cameras do capture railway activities but smart AI-powered CCTV surveillance not only monitors but smartly identifies gaps in operational functionalities and security measures. AI-driven software, when integrated with CCTVs, provides a comprehensive analysis of several activities, helping in identifying crimes, detecting potential hazards, preventing accidents and more.

At Transline Technologies, we have several years of expertise in installing CCTV cameras for Indian Railways. Some of our key projects include video surveillance at Western Railways (Kevadiya Railway Station, located 5 kilometers from the Statue of Unity), Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), East Coast Railway (ECoR), and South East Central Railways (SECR). These projects have yielded significant results, improving passenger safety, enhancing overall railway security, and augmenting surveillance efficiency. 

Delivering impactful results, we have provided solutions that not only ensure safety and security but also facilitates proper functioning of other operations like loitering detection, facial detection, intrusion detection and more. Detecting random suspicious objects, detecting object throws, and flagging any potential hazards not only prevents threats but also smartly secures public safety, building public trust.

Learn more about Transline's work in transportation and government projects, or read our guide to security best practices for public transportation hubs.

​Contact Us today to know more about how we help enhance Railways Security by improving railway employee safety and passenger safety simultaneously.