In a bid to ensure safety to the passengers and goods, the Indian Railways has decided to deploy highly trained commandos on trains operating in Naxal-infested zones, Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern states.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday inducted the Commando for Railway Security (CORAS) and promised to set up a commando training centre in Haryana to modernize and train commandos of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
At a function at the New Delhi railway station, Goyal inducted the first batch of the CORAS commandos.
Before that, the commando team gave a demonstration of how they would rescue hostages from a passenger train.
"These CORAS commandos will be posted in Left extremist wing affected areas, northeastern region and Jammu and Kashmir where providing security to the passengers and the railway network is of utmost priority," he said.
"A new state-of-the-art commando training centre for RPF will be started in Jagadhri (in Haryana) which will have access to latest technology and equipment."
The Minister said the RPF's crack commando team of 1,200 officers will get the most modern equipment and world-class training. "This will help train the other 60,000-65,000 fellow officers of RPF."
Goyal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "deep sensitivity" for railway passengers.
The Minister said a network of CCTV cameras will be set up at every station. "The link of these cameras will be given to the local stations, GRP, RPF, divisional office and even to the Minister's office."
He praised RPF for catching thousands touts and sought "maximum punishment" for them.
He said the task should have been done by the Traffic Division of the Railways but was done by the RPF.
In a stern warning to the railway officials, Goyal said: "Fix the problem or we shall take action."
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