New Delhi: Indian Railways has started a pilot project to install fire and smoke detection alarms in trains and equip the coaches with fire-retardant material, government told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
In a written reply to a question in the House, Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa said, "as a pilot project, Indian Railways has installed early fire and smoke detection systems in the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani train".
The technical specification of the system will be reviewed on the basis of the report prepared after completion of its initial trials, he said. On installation of this system in other trains, Muniyappa said further action will be planned after successful field trials and design validation of the alarm and smoke detection systems.
On steps taken by the Railways Ministry to check re-occurrence of fire incidents in future, Muniyappa informed the House on several measures adopted for this.
"In Railway carriages, fire retardant cables and multi-tier electrical protection systems are provided to prevent incidents of fire due to electrical defects," he said.
To stop fire from spreading, he said fire retardant furnishing materials have been introduced in train coaches and their standards are regularly updated as per the international standards. The Minister said that there is a provision for installing fire barrier and thermic lock in vestibule doors to delay fire propagation in Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB) type of coaches.
Replying to a question on strengthening the railways security, the Minister said, "a high-level committee had submitted its report on Composite Security Plan in 2008. Twenty one recommendations were made in the Composite Security Plan on various issues pertaining to Railway security."
The high-level committee with members from National Security Guards (NSG), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Delhi Police, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Railways was constituted in 2007 for recommending a composite security plan.
"The Committee identified vulnerable stations of Railways including stations of Metro Rail, Kolkata. Based on its report and feedback from field units and intelligence agencies, 202 stations have been identified for implementation of Integrated Security System (ISS) at an estimated cost of Rs 353 crore," he said.
The ISS comprises of Internet Protocol based CCTV surveillance system, access control, personal and baggage screening system and bomb detection and disposal systems. PTI