With a view to handle heavy rush of passengers at stations during festival/Mela periods, limited Access Control System has been experimented by the Railways where during such periods, holding areas were created outside stations and passengers were allowed only when the train came to the platform.

Further, to handle heavy rush of passengers at stations, following decisions have been taken by railways –

1. Permanent holding areas at 60 stations:

1. During the festival season of 2024, holding areas were created outside stations. These waiting areas were able to hold large crowds at Surat, Udhna, Patna and New Delhi. Passengers were allowed only when the train came to the platform.
2. Similar arrangements were made during Mahakumbh at nine stations of Prayag area.
3. Based on the experience of these stations, it has been decided to create permanent waiting areas outside stations at 60 stations across the country, which periodically face heavy crowds.
4. Pilot projects have started at New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Ghaziabad stations.
5. With this concept, the sudden crowd will be contained within the waiting area. Passengers will be allowed to go to platforms only when the trains arrive at the platform. This will decongest the stations.

2.         Access control:

1. Complete access control will be initiated at the 60 stations.
2. Passengers with confirmed reserve tickets will be given direct access to the platforms.
3. Passengers without a ticket or with a waiting list ticket will wait in the outside waiting area.
4. All unauthorised entry points will be sealed.

3.         Wider foot-over-bridges (FOB):

1. Two new designs of 12 metre wide (40 feet) and 6 metre wide (20 feet) standard FOB have been developed. These wide FOBs with ramps were very effective in crowd management during Mahakumbh. These new standard wide FOBs will be installed in all the stations.

4.         Cameras:

1. Cameras helped crowd management in a big way during Mahakumbh. A large number of cameras will be installed in all stations and adjoining areas for close monitoring.

5.         War rooms:

1. War rooms at large stations will be developed. Officers of all departments will work in the war room during crowd situations.

6.         New generation communication equipment:

1. Latest design digital communication equipment like walkie-talkies, announcement systems, calling systems will be installed on all heavy crowd stations.

 

7.         New design ID card:

1. All staff and service persons will be given a new design ID card so that only authorised persons can enter the station.

8.         New design uniform for staff:

1. All staff members will be given new design uniforms so that they can be easily identified during a crisis situation.

9.         Upgradation of station director post:

1. All major stations will have a senior officer as station director. All other departments will report to the station director.
2. Station director will get financial empowerment so that he can take on- the-spot decisions for improving the station.

10.       Sale of tickets as per capacity:

1. Station Director will be empowered to control the sale of tickets as per capacity of the station and the available trains.

In addition, for the security arrangements and to streamline passenger flow, station specific plans are made involving all the stakeholders that include Government Railway Police (GRP), Local Police and Local Civil Administration and accordingly action is taken to manage the influx of passengers. Queue System is maintained for hassle free boarding of important trains at originating stations.

GRP & RPF staffs are deployed at foot-over bridges to regulate crowd smoothly in order to avoid stampede like situation during the heavy rush period and render real time assistance to passengers. Intelligence units (CIB/SIB) and plain cloth staff are deployed for collection of information about rush and accordingly arrangements were made associating GRP/Police.

During peak rush periods, when heavy movement of passengers is anticipated, zonal Railways are authorized to restrict entry to stations by stopping issuing of platform tickets except for persons coming to the station just to assist the aged, illiterate and female passengers who are not  in a position to fend themselves at Railway stations.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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Dharmendra Tewari/Shatrunjay Kumar

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