Metro Rail stations in Hyd to have airport level security

Hyderabad, Airport level security arrangements will be provided at all metro stations of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), a top official said here on Wednesday.

Fool-proof security will be in place which include access-controlled passenger entry with baggage scanning, CCTV cameras among other surveillance,HMR Managing Director NVS Reddy was quoted as saying in a release.

Reddy had a preliminary meeting on security plan for Hyderabad Metro Rail project with city police commissioner, M Mahender Reddy and other top police officials, security experts, L&T officials among others, here today.

Passenger security will be the topmost priority of HMR and it will be ensured through access control and installation of CCTVs at all stations, sensors and alarms for monitoring of unmanned areas, checking and frisking of passengers at concourse gates, installation of intrusion detection systems, on-board surveillance through video recording in trains, anti-sabotage checking among other security measures, the release said.

The 72-km-long project, with 66 stations in three corridors, is scheduled for completion by June 2017 and the 8-km Nagole-Mettuguda stretch (stage I), which will have seven stations, is expected to go on steam by March 2015.

The CCTV system will cover areas like platforms, concourse, ticketing, parking, skywalks, viaduct, entry/exits to stations, vicinity areas, inside and outside saloon of the trains, he said.

The meeting also discussed various aspects of security arrangements for Metro rail stations, parking and circulation areas, viaduct and track, trains, depot areas, vital installations and machinery, Operations Control Centre (OCC), besides the security arrangements already in place at different Metro rail systems like Delhi and Bangalore.

The security arrangements are being finalised in consultation with the Hyderabad Police with guidance from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Various options were discussed and the final requirements will be worked out soon, an HMR release said.

Meanwhile, city police commissioner M Mahender Reddy told reporters that different models on deployment of security forces and security equipment for the Metro Rail stations were discussed in the preliminary meeting. 

There may be a specialised security force on the lines of CISF which guards airports. We may also form a special unit comprising security personnel drawn from different wings of state police force who will be imparted with special training.

Or it will be a combination of civil police, specialised police force and also private security agencies and this group can be deployed for security to Metro Rail stations, Reddy said.

However, the government will take a final decision on the model of security force to be deployed as part of security measures, he said. The aim of the government is to provide 100 per cent safe and secured journey through Metro Rail (for commuters), added the police commissioner.