Train passengers will have to reach Patna Junction an hour in advance in about four months' time because the railways will soon install baggage scanners at the station.

At present, there are no such scanners at Patna Junction, one of the busiest stations under East Central Railway (ECR), or any other ECR station. But after a meeting of senior-level railway officials, including the general manager, last week instructions were given to start work on installing baggage scanners as part of facility upgrade for passengers and security.

Patna Junction - which receives a daily footfall of around 1.75 lakh - will be the first among them.

The machines, sources said, are expected to be ready in four months. A private company would be engaged to install the machines and then Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police personnel will take over monitoring and implementing the operation of the scanners.

"Indian Railways is working on this project to start the service as soon as possible," said Ranjit Kumar Singh, the public relations officer of Danapur division under which Patna Junction falls. "There is no limitation on number of machines to be installed - it will be according to the requirement. It is being done to enhance security measures at Patna Junction. The machines would also be installed at Danapur railway station."

Patna Junction handles around 350 pairs of trains every day, including mail, express and passengers, which pass through or originate from here. To ensure the implementation is smooth, the railways will launch an awareness campaign and tell the people to reach the station an hour before departure.

"It would become mandatory for the passengers to reach the station in advance so that their luggage is scanned properly without any hurry," said Singh.

Passengers are, however, concerned about how much time it would take for their luggage to be scanned.

"We do not mind waiting for our luggage to be scanned but it should not take a lot of time," said Boring Road resident Nilesh Kumar. "People handling the machines should be able to manage the crowd."

Another resident of Kidwaipuri locality, Pramod Kumar, said: "It is a good initiative but compared to airports, railway stations get more people so adequate number of scanners should be installed."

The railways will also install high-resolution closed-circuit television cameras at the station. Right now, 30 of the station's 42 CCTV cameras are functional; but even they are not up to required standards. For monitoring the data from the scanners and high-resolution CCTV cameras, a control room will be set up at the railway station. The station manager would also have access to the control room visuals.