A railway spokesperson said during monitoring, it used to be difficult to know whether patrolmen had started patrolling at the right time, whether they had completed their beats in the stipulated time or not.
To overcome day-to-day difficulties and eliminate human intervention-based monitoring systems, advanced GPS devices are being employed by the Pune division of the Central Railways to monitor real-time position and speed of various types of patrolmen.
“Safety and security are important for the Indian Railways and it is our prime concern. The Pune Division of Central Railways has always been ahead in innovation and implementation of new technologies in day-to-day railway working to enhance the safety of track and train operation,” said a spokesperson.
“For ensuring the safety of train operation, various types of patrolling, for example Monsoon patrolling, hot weather/ cold weather patrolling, keyman patrolling etc. are done regularly. A patrolman’s duty is very critical, hence, monitoring of patrolling is important to ensure the safety of train operations. Earlier, physical monitoring of patrolmen was done in which a supervisor or officer used to check on patrolmen during regular and surprise inspections like trolley inspection, footplate inspection etc,” an official said.
The railway spokesperson said during the monitoring, it was difficult to know whether the patrolmen had started patrolling at the right time, whether they had completed their beats in the stipulated time or not.
“To overcome all these difficulties and to eliminate human intervention-based monitoring systems, we have adopted GPS devices. They will monitor real-time position and speed of various assets,” the spokesperson said.
As per railway board guidelines, Pune division has provided 300 GPS devices to all patrolmen and keymen, including monsoon patrolmen, and now real-time monitoring of patrolling can be done through apps in mobile and desktop by SSE/P-Way in charge, sectional ADEN and in control office of divisional office.
“It (GPS monitoring) ensures accuracy and adherence to the assigned schedule. GPS devices transmit the location and SOS alerts to divisional engineering control, sectional and in-charge PWIs and ADENs,” the railways said.
The monitoring, the officials said, is done through an application software on a cloud subscription basis with a map view, report generation and related assistance accessible via secured username and password over an internet browser. The software generates an exception report of keymen/patrolmen which includes battery status, off devices, beat not covered, beat completed successfully and over speeding. “For any irregularity, patrolmen can be called for explanations or counselled. The software generates a daily report on the device signal information, monitor SOS press, device battery status, exception report and device on or off status. Due to the advantages of this system, all patrolmen are alert all the time while on duty,” the spokesperson said.
“Recently during heavy rainfall, flooding occurred in Miraj, Kolhapur district where due to the sudden rising of water levels, washouts occurred at many locations. Due to the alertness of our patrolmen and bridge watchmen, washout and flood situation was brought to the notice of the engineering control and higher officials immediately and train services stopped in the affected section and thus a major incident could be averted,” the railway spokesperson said.
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