Road Safety & Transportation Security in India
Road accidents have emerged as a major public health hazard globally, and more so in India that is one of the worst affected with about 5 lakhs accidents killing nearly 1.5 lakh people and leaving thrice the number injured per year for the last few years. India marks one of the highest growth rates of motorisation in the world, thanks to rapid urbanisation and economic growth of middle class, which gravely impact the road safety level of the country. Though the road safety standards and pertinent laws in India are reasonably high rated but their poor enforcement owing to various reasons has created the concerns.
Road safety has also emerged as the central theme of almost the entire range of the activities of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. As a signatory to Brasilia Declaration, India is committed to reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50% by 2020, and the Ministry is taking steps towards fulfilling this commitment.
These steps include overhauling the institutional and statutory framework, employing engineering solutions to build safer roads, laying down standards for safer vehicles, building an environment for better enforcement of traffic regulations and improving emergency care.
Technology plays the most significant role in Road Safety and Transportation Security. An intelligent transportation system may provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable various users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and ‘smarter’ use of transport networks.
SecurityLink India has recently interacted with the industry stalwarts on the comprehensive state of the Road Safety and Transportation Security in India, and collected their views on the available technologies, and the pertinent encouraging and discouraging dynamics that come their way in the course of implementations.
Milind Borkar
Vice President
India, Middle East and Africa, Infinova
SecurityLink India: Kindly share the latest developments in transport security in India? What challenges do you face in the implementation of the solution?
Milind Borkar: The road, air and metro infrastructure have progressed a long way ahead since the last 5-6 years, and one can see large scale developments across the country in terms of flyover bridges, metros, rails and airports.
As infrastructure improves, so is the technology improvement in all these transportations sectors. Security risk assessment has been a major factor in these sectors, particularly due to the rise of unwanted potential threats that disrupt any growing economy. There is a rampant increase in the use of megapixel technology, latest compression technology, and enterprise level video management software and storage solutions. Unfortunately however, all these technologies are not wisely used across all the sectors in India. Transport security, though makes one of the most important critical infrastructure projects, often see projects compromising on quality, performance and network security. The criterion for the selection of an OEM in such projects is only the price, and that is unfortunate. We hope this practice improves in the near future as otherwise our transport security will keep on becoming more vulnerable to potential threats.
SecurityLink India: What are the latest trends in terms of technology and solutions, and how do you compete?
Milind Borkar: Transport security such as airports, metros etc., are demanding security solutions with latest standards and technology. Use of megapixel technology, H.265 compression, thermal solutions, 360-degree camera solutions, true WDR cameras is becoming a common requirement in most of the projects. Infinova’s solutions are competent enough and that have been catering to this sector since several years.
SecurityLink India: What are your offerings towards transport security especially road safety and surveillance?
Milind Borkar: Infinova’s latest technology offering comprises the thermal solutions, edge enabled cameras, long range IR cameras, H.265 cameras, 4MP, 5MP and 8MP solutions etc. Infinova VMS has had several new technological advances in recent years. It has been integrated to several new world class technology companies such as companies offering FR technology, ACS, fire alarm, perimeter detection, intrusion detection etc. Infinova VMS can be customized to several national and international languages and also offers a very robust video analytics module.
SecurityLink India: How do you justify the PPP model for the sector?
Milind Borkar: PPP model carries its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages for this type of model in transport sector include effective and efficient public resource management, ensuring higher quality and timely provision of public services, expertise sharing, check on the expenditures, check on timely completion of project schedule, higher chances of inclusion of the latest technologies, and trends into public services and proper risk management is ensured.
This model also carries some disadvantages such as service and procurement cost may increase, and disputes and inflexibility can also withhold any project progress. However, the pros are positive enough for growing economies like India and is thus helping the transport sector as well where many private public partnership are bringing infrastructural growth in the country. Infinova has several installations in many public as well as PPP operated segments.
SecurityLink India: Kindly share some of your current projects in the sector.
Milind Borkar: Infinova is the most preferred CCTV OEM by Airport Authorities of India to combat terrorism and increase security measures at Airports across India. Over 6,000 Infinova video surveillance cameras are deployed across 62 Airports in India. About 38 Airports are deployed with Infinova video management software V2217 and rest with third party video management software. Some of the airport locations are also deployed with Infinova DVRs and switches.
Infinova has been recently awarded an upgradation project for 30 airports replacing third party cameras and software. Infinova has an installation base at AAI headquarters in Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, Delhi where more than 60 cameras are deployed.
Ashish P. Dhakan
MD & CEO,
HIKVISION, INDIA
SecurityLink India: What is the status and scope of transport security in India – especially road safety and surveillance?
Ashish P. Dhakan: According to BMI Research forecast, India’s transport infrastructure sector will grow by 6.1% in real terms in 2017, and average 5.9% annually through 2021 – the fastest expanding component of the country’s infrastructure sector. The latest FY 2017-18 Union Budget increased allocations for National Highways Authority (NHA) by 24 percent and Indian Railways by 8.2 percent to support significant expansion plans. This is a good indicator for the growth of transport security solutions market in India.
Public safety requirements and enhanced transport security backed by massive infrastructural development are the major factors responsible for the rise in demand of transport security systems in India. By systems, the transport security system market has been sub-divided into access control, surveillance, fire safety, scanning and biometrics. Access control forms the basis of any security system and is used in a large scale in all airports, railway stations and bus terminals. We at Hikvision are keen to tap the new opportunities emanating from the transport sector.
SecurityLink India: What major threats do you find in the vertical?
Ashish P. Dhakan: Global terrorism continues to be the biggest threat to the transport sector. In the recent times the transport sector has emerged as one of the most vulnerable targets for terrorist attack. Apart from terrorism backed by global terrorist organizations, there is a clear and present danger to transport sector from naxalites and other separatist militant groups. Criminal negligence and noncompliance of SOP have emerged as the hidden threat, which was never taken into account. Recent train accidents in UP have proved that a small error in compliance or SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) can lead to an unprecedented loss of human lives and railway property.
SecurityLink India: What are the latest developments in the sector?
Ashish P. Dhakan: India is planning to add 175 new airports to its existing tally of 75 Airports. There are plans underway for developing 8 new seaports apart from modernizing existing 12 seaports. The public private partnership (PPP) is evolving as a perfect solution for developing India’s vast backlog in the transport sector. The government proposed a new metro rail policy aimed at easing and encouraging the use of PPPs for urban transit projects, expanding the number of opportunities for private parties to invest in infrastructure.
SecurityLink India: What is the latest trend in terms of technology and solution, and how do you compete there?
Ashish P. Dhakan: Hikvision is the world’s leading supplier of innovative video surveillance products and solutions. Some of our latest product offerings have H.265 compression technology. These products are also embedded with artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning technologies. We also have Push technology, which enables live data feed at the command centre. Hikvision has a pool of domain experts to design and implement end-to-end solutions for transport sector’s specific requirement.
We have successfully implemented various customized solutions for various projects in India. Hikvision solutions for transport sector are getting good response from the end-users.
SecurityLink India: What are your offerings towards transport security especially road safety and surveillance?
Ashish P. Dhakan: Hikvision offers a wide range of products and solutions to transport security segment, which includes latest IP Cameras, Mobile DVRs & NVRs. Our customized solutions for railways and state transport corporations have evoked good response. We developed and implemented a special solution of vehicle mounted PTZ for Karnataka State and Assam Police patrolling vehicles.
SecurityLink India: What challenges do you face in the implementation of the solution?
Ashish P. Dhakan: The transport sector in India is fragmented and unorganised. There is a need for improvement in infrastructure to help tackle operational inefficiencies. The biggest challenge is creating awareness among stakeholders about latest security systems and solutions. There is a need for strict norms for passenger safety and logistics compliance. Another challenge is delay in implementing transport related security projects. Infrastructure projects are beset by time and cost overruns emanating from delay in execution, resulting in disputes between private partners and government agencies.
SecurityLink India: What is the government approach and initiatives towards road safety? How do you rate the enforcement and implementation of the projects today?
Ashish P. Dhakan: The government agencies are playing a proactive role in creating road safety awareness by implementing various public service campaigns by various affiliate agencies. Now the onus of road safety rests with citizens to follow the traffic rules and comply with road safety norms. The enforcement of traffic rules still remains a grey area due to alleged malpractices. The automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) solution and automation for traffic rule violation ticket (E-Chalan) can help in a big way.
The swift progress of infrastructure and transport projects under the incumbent government is a good sign. We have witnessed fast track implementation of metro rail and highway projects in recent times.
SecurityLink India: How do you justify the PPP model for the sector – in the wake of the recent Greater Noida expressway horse racing which was a major safety lapse?
Ashish P. Dhakan: It should be ensured that such security lapses (horse racing on expressway) should not happen. This case in point doesn’t make the PPP model invalid. First and foremost the project should be tested for its commercially viability. The integrity and professional ethics should be at the core of the PPP nodal agency. The private partner needs to fulfill the commitment of funds on time. The government has chosen PPP model to combat the funding gaps and delay in infrastructure and transport projects. There is no problem in the model but its success depends on integrity of partners.
SecurityLink India: Kindly share some of your current projects in the sector.
Ashish P. Dhakan: Some of the significant railway projects implemented by Hikvision are Integral Coach Factory and Modern Coach Factory and Western Railway. In the Public Transport segment, we have successfully completed various projects, including Haryana State Road Transport, Naya Raipur BRTS and Jabalpur City Bus Service•
Sanjeev Sehgal
Founder & MD
Sparsh, INDIA
SecurityLink India: What major threats do you find in the transport sector?
Sanjeev Sehgal: The transport sector is exposed to threats in the form of women security, child abuse, terrorism and vandalism that not only pose a threat to the individual, but to the society on the whole. The Nirbhaya incident brought to light how public transport is prone to security breach and how critical this subject has grown in nature today. The necessity of an efficient transport security system is paramount and the issue needs to be addressed urgently in the country.
SecurityLink India: What are the latest developments in the sector in India?
Sanjeev Sehgal: Transport security has recently come to the limelight and has garnered government support to ensure citizen’s safety at all times. The Delhi government has initiated the installment of CCTV cameras in all DTC buses. District administrations have made it mandatory to install CCTV cameras in buses. Since the horrifying Nirbhaya incident, 200 buses have been equipped with surveillance systems; and a 140 crores budget has been assigned to continue the project.
Delhi Metro is already under CCTV supervision; and the Indian Railways has started installing cameras on an experimental basis – with 2 cameras in each lobby and 4 cameras on the entrance doors for each compartment.
SecurityLink India: What is the latest trend in terms of technology and solution, and how do you compete?
Sanjeev Sehgal: CCTV cameras for transport surveillance are now GPS, and 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi enabled. Some solutions now include live tracking with the help of a mobile app, wherein HD resolution is also available. The picture quality has improved and the video output is high resolution. NVR and IP cameras are also available alongside the current DVR cameras.
SecurityLink India: What are your offerings towards transport security especially road safety and surveillance?
Sanjeev Sehgal: Sparsh has been offering full HD supported mobile DVR with HD-AVI cameras. Sparsh has launched an integrated fully HD IP camera system with inbuilt 3G/ 4G/ LTE support. It has features for GPS tracking with an external storage capacity of upto 128 GB. With this camera, one analog HD-AVI camera can be attached and the recording for both cameras can be stored in the IP camera.
Live video streaming for this product is available on mobile app and cloud. RFID reader can also be integrated with the camera. The recorded video is then uploaded to the server automatically when the camera is connected to home wifi network.
SecurityLink India: What challenges do you face in the implementation of the solution?
Sanjeev Sehgal: The most challenging part of the transport security is the customers are not fairly aware about the availability of solutions in the market. In addition, customers are most often found unwilling to invest in this area for the actual purpose of security; they invest only to the extent to satisfy and comply with the set government regulations for transport security which are mandatory. Thus, it is to be verified if the installations fulfill the actual purpose or no..
Mostly CCTV cameras on public transportation are used for recording purpose, and the data so collected is not accessed remotely. So there is always a challenge to preserve recorded data as vandalism, accidents or any other such unwanted incident pose threats to the hardware system which may defeat the basic purpose of the set up.
SecurityLink India: What are the new initiatives taken to secure transport sector?
Sanjeev Sehgal: The government is looking to make it mandatory for all public transport to have CCTV recording and GPS tracking. Indian Railways is also implementing projects on an experimental basis to ensure the best of public safety on board.
SecurityLink India: How do you justify the PPP model for the sector?
Sanjeev Sehgal: CSR activities are mandatory for all corporations. Hence the government can give special incentive to install CCTV in public transport•
Robbin Shen
Director
India & SAARC, Dahua Technology
SecurityLink India: What are the status and scope of transport security in India – especially road safety and surveillance?
Robbin Shen: India‘s transport network is one of the largest and densest in the world. It is estimated that transport sector alone needs an investment of $500 billion (3.7% of India’s GDP) over the next 8 to 10 years. After the gory Nirbaya incident in New Delhi in December 2012, India has been witnessing a security beef up in all modes of transport – rail, road, air, and water. The Indian Government has made it mandatory for the installation of CCTV cameras in all school buses. On its part, the Union Government is enhancing security cover across India. Private transport is also increasing its spend on security devices to safeguard their passengers.
In the Union Budget 2017-18, the Government of India has allotted Rs.64,000 crore (US$9.55 billion) to NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) for roads and highways, and Rs.27,000 crore (US$4.03 billion) for PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna), a nationwide plan to provide good all weather road connectivity to unconnected villages.
Public safety requirements in transport and the ongoing huge infrastructural developments in India are the major factors responsible for driving the growth of transport security. Safety and security are addressed through a variety of technologies ranging from vehicle tracking systems, silent alarms, and security cameras to personal handheld devices.
The transport segment in India is undergoing a sea change for the better. Layered security integrated with transport operations is assuming importance in transportation network in recent years.
SecurityLink India: What major threats do you find in the vertical?
Robbin Shen: Terrorism is the universal threat to all including Indian transportation system. Their are many other most occurring threats to Indian rail and road transportation systems such as individual assaults or mugging of passengers, vandalism or without ticket travellers, theft of vehicles or cargo, and so on.
Cybersecurity is becoming a big concern to any organization in the transport industry, because the consequences of a cyberattack on a moving vehicle could be catastrophic. Vehicle manufacturers should align their manufacturing practices to combat cyber threats.
SecurityLink India: What are the latest developments in the sector?
Robbin Shen: Multiple object detection technology; radar that helps vehicles to see in bad weather; integrated transportation network in which real-time data is shared across vehicles; and infrastructure and people to improve safety and mobility on the road, are the major latest developments in the field. Wearable technology delivers hand-free notifications to travellers; intuitive signage smart technology makes it possible to connect data sources with intelligent screen technology to give travelers the information they need when they need it. Fleet optimization tools improve the efficiency, safety and profitability of the business. These are some of the latest products and solutions that are available in the transport sector.
SecurityLink India: What are the latest trends in terms of technology and solutions, and how do you compete?
Robbin Shen: With the increasingly high concentration of people living in urban areas and the demand for higher levels of service and information regarding transport services (such as real time updates on bus and train schedules), transportation needs have now become much more complex than simply building new roads or rail lines. Innovative technology-driven approaches are gaining ground to meet these demands.
The following new technologies are playing a critical role in facilitating more innovative approaches toward urban transportation:
- Autonomous technology aims to offer safe, convenient and energy efficient transportation. These cars have driverless vehicle technologies equipped with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and new sensors to provide navigation systems.
- Connected vehicle technologies connect to and communicate with other cars and infrastructure in the vicinity to make intelligent and real time decisions about optimal routes based on traffic flow and incidents.
- Shared transportation models are already highly popular and leverage the convergence of technologies like mobile communications, social media and geospatial analysis to cater to user demand in an elastic fashion and more effectively match demand with supply. It is likely that this approach will continue to become main stream and evolve in the coming years.
- Customer interface technologies for providing user services like interactive social channels for communication with patrons, journey planning and easy payment methods are highly popular to cater to user mobility demands.
SecurityLink India: What are your offerings towards transport security especially road safety and surveillance?
Robbin Shen: Dahua Technology has come out with various transport security solutions such as mobile surveillance in trains, trams, taxis, trucks, school buses, city and police vehicles etc. We also have parking, speed measuring, automatic plate number recognition (APNR), intelligent traffic control systems, red-light enforcement solutions, recorders, transmission equipment, mobile cameras, mobile management system and accessories. During the famous Rath Yatra in June 2017 at Ahmadabad, Gujarat and in few other cities we deployed and implemented our video surveillance technology for transport security and road safety and received appreciation both from the police officials and the general public.
SecurityLink India: What challenges do you face in the implementation of the solution?
Robbin Shen: Getting approvals in time, shortage of skilled man power and equipment, lack of proper coordination among the players involved, delay in the implementation of projects, cost escalation, time overruns, political unrest and environmentalists’ protests are some of the major challenges we face in the implementation of transport security solutions. Privacy policies, ethical issues, increasing urban traffic density, want of proper infrastructure, outdated traffic equipment, limited space for creating parking facilities, lack of adequate infrastructure, unregulated traffic flow and high energy consumption leading to environmental pollution are some of the other problems and challenges we encounter while integrating our traffic solutions with other systems.
SecurityLink India: What are the government approaches and initiatives towards road safety? How do you rate the enforcement and implementation of the projects today?
Robbin Shen: The government’s approach and initiatives are positive and encouraging today. With the ever increasing number of road accident cases, there is an acute need to address road safety issue. To help people know about road safety, GOI has launched ‘Road Safety Tips’ app. It lets people access information in the form of text, images, videos, laws, and national road safety policy and traffic signs.
The Ministry of Road Transportation and Highways is taking a number of steps to remedy the situation. Road Safety Cell of the Ministry deals with the ‘national road safety plan,’ which compiles road accident data and interacts with the states on the issues of road safety. Some of the other important schemes administered by the cell are various publicity programs, grants-in-aid to voluntary organizations for hosting road safety programs, national highway accident relief schemes, refresher training to heavy vehicle drivers in unorganized sector, and setting up model driving training school etc. The Government is working closely with agencies such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank etc., to implement them.
SecurityLink India: How do you justify the PPP model for the sector – in the wake of the recent Greater Noida expressway horse racing which was a major safety lapse?
Robbin Shen: Barring a few shortcomings, the PPP is the best model to be adopted by the transport sector. It clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of both public and private sectors and helps them plan, implement and complete the project in time. The PPP is the most effective way to build transport infrastructure in terms of hiring, maintenance, resource utilization and execution within the stipulated time frame.
SecurityLink India: Kindly share some of your current projects in the sector.
Robbin Shen: As an industry leading supplier of surveillance products and solution services, Dahua Technology provides a series of products in video storage, frontend display control and smart transportation etc., to the customers around the world including London Underground. Dahua’s new Intel® architecture based E2E solution for smart transportation meets the new demands of the smart city in traffic management and delivers excellent performance in reliability, scalability, security, advancement and openness.
Dahua is currently providing ‘smart city solutions’ for many cities in China and overseas that include transport and road safety sectors. The working process of Dahua ‘smart city solution’ can be viewed in four stages such as prevention, detection, response and investigation. Leveraging its potent AI technologies and highly integrated platform, Dahua smart city solution aims to address safety issues of mega-cities without dramatically expanding police forces. For example, the deep-learning that even allows instant classification of humans and vehicles appearing in video, capturing extract detailed features such as cloth color, gender, headwear, bag for human and license plate number, vehicle color, size, mark, model, cellphone usage, seat belt usage for vehicle.
Sudhindra Holla
Country Manager
India & SAARC, Axis Communications
SecurityLink India: What are the status and scope of transport security in India – especially road safety and surveillance?
Sudhindra Holla: Urbanization, over increasing population, growing middle-class and an increased proliferation of vehicles on the road have created an overwhelming need to secure roads and highways in India. Road safety in India has become an emerging challenge with the civic authorities and traffic police grappling to provide an efficient traffic monitoring system. We see an immense opportunity arising in this vertical and a planned investment in surveillance in the transport sector will go a long way in ensuring reduced fatalities and quicker response time.
City surveillance solutions can also be used for traffic monitoring, providing security during festivals and 24×7 cover to citizens. In the case of traffic monitoring, real-time information on vehicular movement and road conditions can be monitored to ensure the healthy flow of traffic. Easy accessibility to real time high quality video on the road conditions can help in managing the traffic to a great extent. The cameras can also ensure that the vehicle users stick to the speed limit and don’t jump red signals. Specialized video analytics, which can enable automatic number plate recognition, congestion monitoring etc., will also have a huge impact in helping manage this sector.
SecurityLink India: What are the latest developments in the sector?
Sudhindra Holla: According to an IHS report India’s market for network video cameras is estimated to reach USD 194.7 million by 2020. Adoption of better compression techniques, multi-platform integration and HDTV for improved image quality have helped surveillance video become alternative applications beyond security.
We see a lot of focused initiatives being undertaken by the Centre and the State Governments to improve the state transport security. Identification of high-risk corridors and upgrading the infrastructure in Tier 2 and 3 cities are the recent development. This gives a huge opportunity for the surveillance industry to grow in tandem as India progresses.
SecurityLink India: What is the latest trend in terms of technology and solutions, and how do you compete?
Sudhindra Holla: The future use of video analytics will help in detecting fire and smoke, graffiti behavior detection, and remote access to live video and sound from any bus or train, which will enable commuters to estimate travel real time and alert authorities in cases of intrusion or vandalism.
Axis installations are flexible and cost-efficient and are equipped with excellent compression capabilities, which can improve surveillance coverage and quality of images.
SecurityLink India: What are your offerings towards transport security especially road safety and surveillance?
Sudhindra Holla: From congestion and stopped vehicles to serious accidents and extreme weather, we understand the everyday traffic management challenges. In order to keep the traffic moving as smooth as possible, one needs the latest information at hand.
Together with our partners, we offer smart network video solutions that bring one closer to the traffic. One can benefit from leading edge technologies that provide reliable and detailed traffic video around the clock; automatic alerts for incidents such as congestion and stopped vehicles; and stand up to the toughest weather conditions.
We aim to make the job as easy as possible – from installation until they are taken out of the service. That’s why our cameras are quick and easy to install, and thoroughly tested for the tough traffic environments. Axis helps its transportation customers create a safer transportation environment, reduce costs for vandalism and graffiti, efficiently monitor cargo and property, reduce incident response times, and quickly decide the correct incident response.
SecurityLink India: What challenges do you face in the implementation of the solution?
Sudhindra Holla: India’s road network is the second longest in the world and its transport sector is the key to its economic growth. The government plans to continue building at the rate of 30km of highway daily. Without significant improvements in traffic infrastructure and road safety, the current average of one death per 2km of national highway can only rise. The need of the hour is to realise that an efficient traffic management system is the key to good governance. We have seen a lot of policy recommendations, but we need enforcement.
From the security point of view, the major challenges in implementation lie in the arduous process of selecting vendors and deploying their solutions in a multi-vendor environment. There are multiple vendors who can provide their bids to have their name on this historical initiative. The challenge lies in selecting those vendors who have the technologies that are ideal for implementation. Our company provides the most secure IP video surveillance technology that continually evolves with other existing technologies such as IoT and Cloud.
The other challenge is to work around a multi-vendor framework, wherein each vendor’s product has to align with the others’. This is difficult as each provider has its own solution which has been developed over time, and all these solutions have to come together to work in unison.
SecurityLink India: What is the government approach and initiatives towards road safety? How do you rate the enforcement and implementation of the projects today?
Sudhindra Holla: The Government of India has established separate working groups to improve road safety in 2012. These groups work on submitting short-term and long-term recommendations to the government on various aspects of road safety. Even though data is collected, the implementation is still picking up. We need more focused intervention from the centre to make the system more robust.
SecurityLink India: Kindly share some of your current projects in the sector.
Sudhindra Holla: Some of our Indian projects include Delhi International Airport, Hyderabad International Airport, Chennai International Airport, Mumbai International Airport; and Vizag Sea Port, D.Y. Patil Stadium in Mumbai, and Shivajinagar Bus Terminus in Bengaluru.
