A luggage scanner at Bhubaneswar railway station. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 16: East Coast Railway authorities have decided to strengthen security measures at the Bhubaneswar railway station by implementing the Integrated Security System (ISS).

Railway officials said the new system should be ready by December.

The new security system will include personal baggage screening and explosive detection mechanisms. While an Internet protocol-based CCTV camera system will enable the railway authorities to keep vigil on the entire station, including waiting halls, platforms and overbridges, it will also give automatic signals in case of suspicious baggage and excessive crowd.

More than seven lakh passengers use the railway station every month with around 120 trains passing through or originating from here.

At present, the station does not have a single CCTV camera to monitor the movement of passengers.

The only baggage scanner and door scanner at the entrance to the platform No. 1 work erratically.

Officials said an under-vehicle surveillance system with boom barrier including an advanced vehicle scanner system with provision of number plate recognition and capturing of driver image would be enforced at the parking lot of the station. For baggage screening, door-frame metal detectors, hand-held metal detectors and X-Ray baggage scanners would be used.

The system will also have bomb basket, bomb suite and other tools with gas cutters, water cannon and thermal cutters for explosive detection and disposal. Railway officials said a tender for ISS had already been floated and the installations would be completed by December.

Earlier, the railway authorities had proposed to upgrade the existing railway station. The plan, which included a multi-level parking lot, a new station building and two additional platforms, would be commissioned in the next three years. In June, the railway authorities had launched an escalator service at the Bhubaneswar railway station.

“Modern security arrangements are a must for a growing station like Bhubaneswar,” said a senior official of East Coast Railway.

Railway officials said the ISS was proposed to be implemented at 202 railway stations across the country. It has already been installed at Madurai and Coimbatore stations. Mooted by Indian Railways in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, the system would be managed by the Railway Protection Force.