Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26 (UDN): Railway-related crime cases have dropped by nearly 83 per cent at locations covered by solar-powered CCTV surveillance under the East Coast Railway (ECoR), according to railway authorities.
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Data for the January-August period show that the number of reported cases fell from 200 in 2025 to 34 in the corresponding period this year at locations where the solar-powered surveillance system has been deployed.
The reduction has been recorded across several categories of railway-related offences, including cable cutting, stone pelting, theft of passengers’ belongings and alarm chain pulling.
Sharp Decline in Offences
Cases involving the placement of external objects on railway tracks declined from one to zero, while cable-cutting incidents dropped from 10 to one during the period under review.
Similarly, cases of stone pelting fell from 20 to three, while incidents involving theft of passengers’ belongings declined from two to zero.
The most significant reduction was reported in alarm chain-pulling cases, which fell from 158 to 29. Other reported crime cases also declined from nine to one.
Cameras Cover Vulnerable Locations
Under the initiative, solar-powered CCTV cameras have been installed at several sensitive railway locations, including station premises, level crossings, bridges, isolated stretches of track, yards and other vulnerable points.
The system was introduced by ECoR as a pilot initiative to strengthen surveillance in locations where conventional power infrastructure may not always be readily available.
According to railway authorities, the surveillance network has helped improve monitoring of vulnerable locations and may also assist security personnel in identifying and responding to incidents.
Expansion Planned
The success of the pilot initiative has prompted plans for wider adoption of the technology across the railway network.
Railway authorities said solar-powered CCTV surveillance is expected to be expanded to other locations to strengthen security and improve passenger safety.
The initiative combines renewable energy with round-the-clock surveillance, particularly at remote and sensitive railway locations where maintaining conventional CCTV infrastructure can be challenging.
