Indian Railways boarding rules to change: Like airports, you may have to do this to catch train soon

Indian Railways passengers might have to arrive 15-20 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure of trains just like airports as the national transporter is planning to seal stations for security checks before trains leave the station.

Railway Protection Force Director General Arun Kumar told PTI that passengers need to arrive just 15-20 minutes ahead of the train departure time to make sure that they are not delayed due to the security check. Kumar said that at each entry point there will be random security checks.

"The plan is to seal the railway stations. It is primarily about identifying openings and to determine how many can be closed. There are areas which will be closed through permanent boundary walls, others will be manned by RPF personnel and yet others will have collapsible gates," Kumar said. 

Ahead of Kumbh Mela, which begins this month, Indian Railways has already put in place the security plan with high-end technology at Allahabad station. The plan is also in place at Hoobly railway station in Karnataka, the PTI report said. Railway has also prepared a blueprint for 202 more stations ready for implementation.

To strengthen surveillance mechanism at 202 railway stations, the national transporter had approved the Integrated Security System (ISS) in 2016.

Under the ISS security roadmap, Railway plans a layered security check.  The passengers will be scrutinised before they enter the station premises, Kumar said. The ISS project will cost Rs 385.06 crore. Under the plan, Railways will bring CCTV cameras, access control, personal and baggage screening system and bomb detection and disposal system for checking passengers and baggage. Inventing in technology will cut the manpower requirement for security purposes.