The Indian Railway Board is planning to provide Segway-a two-wheeled, self-balancing, battery-powered electric vehicle to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials for patrolling at long platforms.
After the City Police Department successfully adopted Segway for police patrolling at Marine Lines and other crowded places, it is now the turn of the Railway Police to employ these two-wheeled, self-balancing, battery-powered electric vehicles for its officials. The scooters will be made available to police personnel deployed at 19 stations across India. Segways are being used by Marine Drive Police in Mumbai for patrolling at the promenade. They were also used by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) for introducing food delivery system.
It was observed that the job of railway police officers have become very hectic. The Railway Board therefore decided to empower security personnel deployed at busy stations across Western Railway with these battery-operated scooters after almost 15 months of deadly stampede that claimed 23 innocent lives at Elphinstone Road Railway Station. Initially, personnel deployed at seven local stations in Mumbai will be able to use these Segways for crowd control and patrolling, among other things. The decision to introduce these scooters was taken after considering the rapid expansion of platform area across all stations in the City.
“Passenger interface of the Force has increased manifold in recent years. It is the need of the hour to increase the “mobility of the security staff. This will allow personnel to provide timely assistance to passengers seeking grievance-redressal,” said a railway police officer.
The scooters will be initially introduced at Bandra, Borivali, CSMT, Kalyan, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Mumbai Central, and Thane Railway Stations. Mumbai Police had also acquired two Segways to ease patrolling for officials deployed at the City’s famous Marine Drive Boulevard.
In Mumbai, the RPF plays a key role in crime detection and crowd control at the railway stations. The project is still in its nascent stage. An experiment will be conducted on some of the busy stations of the western line.
“Segways are being used by several police departments across the world. The scooters can quickly reach the spot,” the official said. Currently, Segways are being used by police forces in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Germany and China.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) has written to the Railway Department to evict all eateries and other stalls on railway platforms to provide more walking space. “Railway platforms are too crowded for Segways to operate since local trains arrive and depart every 3 to 4 minutes with continuous crowd. With more space, the usage of Segways will be an easy task for our police officials. Chain snatchers and pick-pocketers will have a tough time in outrunning the police thanks to these new Segway-style scooters,”said a police officer.
“Segways and other single-person transports allow officers in foot patrol environments to cover more ground in less time with less fatigue. They will not lose face-to-face contact that foot patrol provides. Officers using these vehicles can also carry more equipment than on foot, or even on a bicycle. An officer on a Segway has a height advantage of almost a feet. This allows for much better observation and the ability to spot trouble and potential trouble-makers,” quoted a senior police officer.
Commuters Opine
“Last year, the Mumbai Police had launched this battery-operated scooter for patrolling at Mumbai at Chowpatty Beach. They were very useful. The cops could reach the spot quickly in case of any trouble,” said Sandeep Patil, a TCS employee.
“A Segway is a self-balancing vehicle for which sufficient training is required. It can cause an accident or one can fall on the railway track if the balance is lost. The initiative is best and it will be quite interesting to see cops patrolling on it,” said Mehul Deshmukh, a Wipro employee.
“The move by the Railway Police is good since railway stations are crowded. The Segways will help cops to quickly swing into action and reach the required spot. Chain snatching and other unlawful activities will definitely reduce after this move,” said Pooja Naidu, a law student.
by Mohit Naik
