Chennai: With rising passenger volumes, expanding rail networks and frequent security incidents exposing the limits of the existing radio-based communication system, the govt railway police (GRP) has proposed setting up an integrated master control room (IMCR) at its headquarters in Chennai. The facility is envisaged as a 24×7 nerve centre for railway policing across Tamil Nadu, bringing all field units onto a single, secure communication and monitoring platform.The state has more than 1,600 GRP field personnel. A senior GRP officer said the IMCR will function as a central command hub, linking headquarters with railway police stations, district control rooms and sub-divisional offices across the Chennai and Trichy railway districts through a cloud-based push-to-talk (PTT) system. All voice communication from field staff using handheld or static devices will be routed through the IMCR, enabling senior officers to monitor operations, and issue instructions in real time.“We have already tested the devices and communication from moving trains is very clear,” the officer said, adding that the system will operate over professional-grade cellular networks such as 3G, 4G and LTE. “This will ensure uninterrupted communication across long and dispersed railway corridors, and eliminate delays caused by fragmented radio networks and manual coordination between districts.”
IMCR will be equipped with a central dispatcher system capable of handling multiple talk groups, priority calls and emergency broadcasts simultaneously. Geo-location tracking of devices will allow controllers to pinpoint location of personnel during incidents, improving response times to crimes, accidents and law-and-order situations on trains and station premises.The system is expected to aid crowd management during peak travel seasons and facilitate coordinated operations with other police and railway agencies. “The implementation is going on and it is a state-of-the-art system,” said K Vanniaperumal, director general of police,GRP.
