Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the New Delhi Railway Station to inspect crowd management a week after a stampede had broken out between 8 to 9 pm, killing 18 passengers and injuring many.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited New Delhi Railway Station on Sunday to review crowd management measures, following a stampede that occurred between 8 to 9 pm last week, resulting in the deaths of 18 passengers and injuries to many others.
Vaishnaw said that Several steps have been taken for access control and crowd control at the New Delhi railway station. “If passengers have a reserved ticket, they will go directly inside the station. Those who do not have tickets will first go to the holding area. Arrangements have been made to take them directly to the holding area… All the counters for unreserved tickets have been removed from the first floor, and counters have been made in the holding area so that only those who have bought tickets can enter the station… This analysis is being done in the war room of Northern Railway,” he said.
Trial for crowd control at New Delhi Railway Station
The Railways carried out a trial for crowd control at New Delhi Railway Station on Saturday by limiting the movement of unreserved passengers to a single platform. Additionally, all Mahakumbh special trains will be scheduled from this designated platform based on demand.
According to the Railway Ministry, the whole exercise was carried out on the suggestions and under the constant monitoring of Railway Minister who was assisted by Railway Board Chairman and CEO Satish Kumar and other senior officials. All of them kept a close watch on the trial from the War Room of the Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.
Vaishnaw told news agency PTI that the trial was successful in preventing overcrowding on other platforms and ensuring a smooth transfer of devotees to trains for their onward journey.
“I monitored the whole experiment personally with the Chairman of the Railway Board from the War Room at the Rail Bhawan in New Delhi. On the one hand, while both reserved and unreserved passengers who travelled to destinations other than Prayagraj had a comfortable and smooth experience of boarding and de-boarding at their respective platforms, on the other hand, devotees too had a hassle-free, comfortable and safer journey to Kumbh Mela from their designated platform number 16,” Vaishnaw said.
“Senior officials of the Northern Railway were present at the New Delhi station to assess the ground situation and the Railway Board remained in touch with them as well. Now, the experience will help us in better planning of the running of special trains for all such occasions in future,” the minister added.
Temporary passenger holding area
Officials said that the Railway Ministry selected Saturday for the trial because a stampede had occurred during the same time slot the previous week, resulting in the deaths of 18 passengers and injuries to many others.
Soon after the stampede, a temporary passenger holding area was constructed in the station area and it was decided that all special trains for Prayagraj would depart from Platform No. 16, the first platform from one side of the station.
“On Saturday, between 2.30 pm and 11.30 pm, we monitored unreserved ticket sales for every half-an-hour. We observed that 969 tickets were sold between 2.30 pm and 3 pm. This number fell to 466 in the next 30 minutes and kept fluctuating between 400 and 1,100 by 7 pm. However, after that, it started increasing and between 7 and 7.30 pm, 1,445 tickets were sold. The maximum was 1,822 tickets between 8.30 pm and 9 pm,” Himanshu Upadhyay, CPRO, Northern Railway, told PTI.
“While we monitored the unreserved ticket sales, we also kept scheduling trains as and when the number of unreserved passengers reached around 2,500. They were asked to wait in the holding area and allowed to enter platform number 16 from only one gate. They were not allowed to enter any other platforms,” he said.
According to the officials, the Railways operated five unreserved (special) trains to Prayagraj from the New Delhi station between 2.30 pm and 11.30 pm, catering to the surge in crowds for the weekend. “The Indian Railways is making constant efforts to provide convenient travel options for pilgrims visiting the Maha Kumbh,” Upadhyay said.
(With agencies input)
