RANCHI: In a first, Railway Protection Force (RPF) of South Eastern Railway (SER), in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic has deployed drones to safe-guard the railway assets over Kharagpur, Adra, Chakradharpur and Ranchi divisions falling under it in the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
The initiative, according to an official release from South Eastern Railway, was taken as it had become a challenging task for them to keep all around surveillance round the clock on the fixed and moving railway assets.
"Since physical surveillance is somehow difficult, SER's RPF have been deploying drones to keep an eye on huge railway assets. The drones are being used to keep a close eye round the clock in the entire network of SER," stated the release issued by SER.
It said that these drones are being used mainly at yard-signaling, infrastructures, wagon stocks, good sheds and station relay rooms. The official release further added that drones have been deployed to optimize security personnel’s effectiveness and proactivity.
With the help of drones, images of railway areas are being captured to give the clear view of the area within a radius of 2 kilometers from suitable heights. In addition to that, sniffer dogs have also been deployed to detect explosives, theft, criminal activities and security of railway assets during lockdowns.