Hyderabad: The railway police has reported that crime is increasing on trains with habitual offenders and organised gangs operating with impunity. The issue of women’s safety and regular surveillance requires placing CCTV cameras inside railway coaches.

The Railway Budget has given priority to placing CCTV cameras in railway coaches to ensure the safety of women passengers. It could also help the railway police identify organised gangs that rob passengers.

The South Central Railway has installed 431 cameras under the Integrated Security System at Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Tirupati. The Secunderabad station has 90 cameras.

The cameras are being monitored in real time to check the illegal sale of tickets, maintain cleanliness and keep tabs on the movement of suspicious persons.

The average CCTV camera being used at stations costs between `30,000 and `35,000, depending on features like Wi-Fi connectivity, 360-degree range, memory storage, among other features.

“Apart from women safety issues like misbehaving and molestation, one of the most commonly recorded crimes on moving trains is taking of inappropriate photographs of women passengers when they are sleeping or breast feeding infants,” said RPF special checking squad member K. Gopal Rao.

“Installing CCTV cameras within railway coaches is therefore very important as it helps nabbing such people. Currently, it is either co-passengers or cops on board who catch such people,” he said.