In a bid to enhance the freight security system and keep real-time status updates, the railway will unveil an advanced Artificial Intelligence-based surveillance system to deal with operational challenges in detecting unlocked or tampered doors in moving freight stock, which pose significant safety and security concerns.
This advanced system can provide real-time status updates on door lock conditions, detect abnormal events or tampering during transit and issue automated data-driven alerts without affecting normal train operations.
The new AI-based system will help to reduce manpower use for checking freight wagons, and it will generate status reports within 30 to 35 seconds. However, currently around 3-4 RPF personnel have to check a goods train of 58 wagons, which takes around half an hour to one hour, but the AI surveillance system will do it in 35 seconds only.
Highlighting the idea behind introducing advanced AI surveillance systems, Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northeast Frontier Railways, said, “It is a fast system that completes a wagon checking within 30 to 35 seconds and generates accurate status reports. It will save manpower and time to complete the checking. Currently, the manual process takes half an hour to one hour for checking one after another wagon of a goods train, following which about 3-4 RPF personnel have to engage for checking and preparing reports on it.”
The new system will save the railways from using huge manpower and long hours for checking freight wagons, and authorities will receive accurate status reports through it. The system will work as usual during rainy days or foggy conditions. However, traditional manual checks are time-consuming and often impractical for long-haul rakes under dynamic conditions, especially during inclement weather, senior railway officials said.
Initial trial has been done successfully, another trial at a larger level will be conducted very soon. Once it gets reliable success, the system will be rolled out at different stations,” Sharma explained.
The railway official further stated that in a collaborative initiative between Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Technology Innovation and Development Foundation (IITG TIDF), they presented their advanced AI-based surveillance system named DRISHTI, an AI-based Locking Monitoring System developed for Goods Wagons. It showcased a prototype model for developing intelligent monitoring solutions using high-speed imaging, computer vision and AI.
“The collaborative team from IITG and NFR identified the need for an intelligent, real-time monitoring solution that could autonomously detect and alert for anomalies in door locking mechanisms, especially during transit, using advanced computer vision and machine learning algorithms,” Sharma informed.
The system integrates AI-powered cameras and sensors mounted on strategic points to capture and analyse door positions and locking conditions in real time. Preliminary results have shown encouraging accuracy levels, validating the potential of this indigenous innovation. Further refinements and scalability plans are underway for wider application across the rail network to strengthen rolling stock safety and operational reliability, the railway officials stated.
