Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel rescued and reunited 422 children and 45 women on the Western Railway (WR) section during January--July period this year.
They have also handed over abandoned children to the NGOs during this period, officials said on Wednesday.
"Besides, to prevent such children and women from any possible threat or trafficking, the WR has also set up Child Help Desks at important stations across Western Railway stations viz. Mumbai Central, Bandra Terminus, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Ratlam and Rajkot stations," an official said.
A total of 301 children and 28 women were rescued in 2018.
Describing the initiatives taken by the WR to rescue the runaway children or women, chief spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar said they have created a WhatsApp group, "SAKHI", which is available at 9004449698, for women commuters of the Mumbai suburban section.
"Whenever an unattended child is found at any station, security forces make sure that the child does not fall into wrong hands. These children are occasionally noticed travelling in trains or living on the platforms in and around the railway stations. High level coordination is maintained in this regard with the state police, intelligence agencies and NGOs to enforce security measures for anti-trafficking and preventing exploitation of women and children," he said.
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Moreover, WR has inducted 232 personnel of Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC) and 97 women home guards in a bid to augment the efforts of the RPF towards ensuring the passenger security on the suburban section as well as for crowd management at the platforms.
"We have almost doubled the number of women security personnel on WR suburban section. CCTV cameras have been installed for 24x7 surveillance at important stations. All women coaches reserved in local trains are covered by CCTV cameras. 251 CCTV cameras have also been installed in 51 ladies coaches of 17 rakes," he added.
Bhakar further stated that WR has launched a special drive against eve-teasing wherein security staff has been instructed to attend women's coaches and deal with vagabonds and suspicious looking men.
"'Mahila Vahini' comprising 84 women staff has been set up. They are deployed for escorting women special trains and other security duties as per requirements in suburban Mumbai. On an average, 122 trains are being escorted daily by armed RPF under the Western Railway," Bhakar added.
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