SUMMARY
From war rooms to CCTV cameras and wide FOBs – check the details of how the Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw plans to mitigate crowd management at the railway stations in India.
1 / 7Union Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, headed a high-level meeting on Friday to discuss the concerns of crowd management at railway stations across India. The Minister green-lighted following key decisions – (Photo: PTI/Kamal Kishore)
2 / 7Learning from the Mahakumbh Mela experiences, permanent waiting areas are to be established outside 60 railway stations across the nation. Pilot projects have already begun at New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Patna stations. As per the new plan, passengers will be given permission to go to platforms only after the arrival of trains at the platforms (Photo: Agencies)
![With the death toll in the overnight stampede at New Delhi Railway Station climbing to 18 on Sunday, porters recounted their harrowing experience of carrying bodies on handcarts amid the chaos. Describing the situation, Krishna Kumar Jogi, a porter at the station told PTI that the the crowd swelled when a train bound for Prayagraj arrived. "A massive crowd gathered on the (footover) bridge. People were packed so tightly that many suffocated. Around 10-15 people lost their lives right there," he claimed. "I witnessed the entire incident. We carried dead bodies from platform numbers 14 and 15 to the ambulance," he added. Here's looking back at similar tragedies that have occurred in India over the years past 20 years, most of them at religious festivals or gatherings. (Image: PTI)](https://images.cnbctv18.com/uploads/2025/02/delhi-station-stampede-2025-02-1fd8f84f932ec9795d0e5ad6d92c2000.jpg?impolicy=website&width=640&height=360 "With the death toll in the overnight stampede at New Delhi Railway Station climbing to 18 on Sunday, porters recounted their harrowing experience of carrying bodies on handcarts amid the chaos. Describing the situation, Krishna Kumar Jogi, a porter at the station told PTI that the the crowd swelled when a train bound for Prayagraj arrived. "A massive crowd gathered on the (footover) bridge. People were packed so tightly that many suffocated. Around 10-15 people lost their lives right there," he claimed. "I witnessed the entire incident. We carried dead bodies from platform numbers 14 and 15 to the ambulance," he added. Here's looking back at similar tragedies that have occurred in India over the years past 20 years, most of them at religious festivals or gatherings. (Image: PTI)")
3 / 7At these 60 stations, complete access control will be started. Under this, only the passengers who have confirmed reserved tickets will be allowed to the platforms. Every unauthorised entry points to the platform will be sealed (Photo: PTI)
4 / 7To mitigate the crowd management issue on the foot-over bridges (FOBs) on the stations, two new designs have been developed, taking inspiration from Mahakumbh. Designs of 12 metre wide (40 feet) and 6 metre wide (20 feet) FOBs are ready, which will be installed in all the railway stations (Photo: Agencies)
5 / 7CCTV cameras will be installed in large numbers at all the stations and the nearby areas for close monitoring of the crowd at the platforms and stations (Photo: Shutterstock)
6 / 7The minister has finalised the development of “war rooms” at the large railway stations in the country. During heavy crowd influx, the officers from all the departments will work in the war room to monitor the crowd management efforts (Photo: Agencies)
7 / 7Major railway stations across the nation will have senior officers designated as station directors to monitor the railway stations wholistically. The station directors will be financially empowered to facilitate on-the-spot decisions for the improvement of the stations. The directors will also have the right to control the ticket sales as per the capacity of the stations and availability of the trains operating (Photo: PTI/Arun Sharma)