The Western Railway on Friday evening launched a local train rake in Mumbai fitted with CCTV cameras in the ladies compartments.\

This is the first time that cameras have been installed in a Mumbai suburban train.

The cameras are connected via wi-fi to monitoring stations and will have a resolution of three megapixels.

Officials have been tinkering with the cameras for almost a month at the Mumbai Central Terminus carshed, as they wanted it to rotate 90 degrees to be able to cover as much area as possible.

Western Railway chief public relations officer Sharat Chandrayan said, "Around four to eight cameras will be fixed in every ladies compartment, be it first or second class. We are going to see results and performance of the cameras in one rake for a few months, after which we will increase the number of rakes with cameras."

Western Railway had been experimenting with CCTV cameras for over two years by placing one in a second-class ladies compartment, but it was unable to take the project forward since the footage was too shaky when the train was at speeds as low as 60 to 70 kmph.

Officials said that this has been resolved now, with cameras being adequately customised.

"We have used a new traction technology that can withstand shocks and vibrations of up to 80 to 100 kmph," Chandrayan said.

Photographs: Sahil Salvi