The Philippine National Railways (PNR) is now on its way to digitalization as it installs artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance system in the entire railway sector of the country.
One of the network operation system’s tasks is monitoring around 219 CCTV cameras installed in stations from Tutuban to Alabang. The surveillance which covers the rails can also help in easily identifying vandals and common causes of accidents such as collision between trains and other vehicles.
“Very alarming like ‘yung mga barera namin. Honestly, the last three years 80%… That justifies buying this system actually (It is very alarming in the case of our barriers. Honestly, the last three years, 80% [were damaged]. That justifies buying this system actually),” PNR General Manager Junn Magno stated.
The monitoring of health protocol observance in stations has also been incorporated in the system. The whole scheme is sensitive enough to sound an alarm in case a health protocol violation is detected. It has contact tracing capabilities as it can identify the destination of individuals who ride the trains through image search in case they are confirmed to be COVID-19 positive.
Immediate cancellation of trips due to flooding and other obstructions can also be possible through the weather monitoring attribute of the surveillance system. – Report from Karen Villanda
