As per a statement released by the Ministry of Railways, an artificial intelligence (AI) module has been developed by IRCTC to standardize operating procedure in food production using CCTV footages. With this module, IRCTC base kitchens will be monitored throughout India for any deviation in hygiene standards like pests or if the staff is not following the standard rules like wearing a headgear and uniform.

16 base kitchens of IRCTC have already been installed with high definition (HD) cameras that are connected to huge monitors for AI vision detection, said the statement. The footage from these are live streamed in at all times in these kitchens. IRCTC has developed the said module in association with New Delhi based company called WOBOT.

With vision computing, the AI module realizes the value of their videos and photos recorded by the CCTV. It can detect an unexpected change or an event that does not conform to the expected pattern using their machine learning algorithms.

The system is designed to detect anomalies of headgear, uniforms, rodents and mopping across kitchens and when an issue arises, a report will be created which the concerned contractor will receive immediately. If the contractor fails to address the issue, IRCTC authorities will take charge, it said in the statement.

The report created on detecting a breach of standardization will be sent as an alert via email as well as through portal to all concerned, for necessary action. A predefined procedure is also put in place to escalate the issue to higher authorities in case of inaction from the concerned official.

The performance of these base-kitchens for a period of time can be viewed through reports given in the online platform.