By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAR 20, 2024: EACH railway station has unique operational challenges due to varying passenger movement patterns during the festivals. 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.

To handle the rush of passengers during Maha Kumbh 2025 at Prayagraj, new infrastructure was created building seven additional platforms, bringing the total to 48 platforms across 9 stations in the Prayagraj area. The approach roads to these stations have also been widened to ensure smooth movement of pilgrims. In total, 17 new permanent Yatri Ashryas were constructed, increasing the holding capacity of these shelters from 21,000 to over 1,10,000. Additionally, 21 new Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Road Under Bridges (RUBs) have been built, eliminating all level crossings in the region.

A well-coordinated train operation plan was deployed to ensure smooth transportation during the Kumbh. Each station was having its own control room, with a central master control room at Prayagraj Junction. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were developed for train operations and crowd management at stations. To facilitate smooth rush of passenger's flow, extensive measures have been put in place, including single entry and exit points at stations on major Snan days and unidirectional movement on platforms, foot over bridges (FOBs), and ramps.

Security arrangements for Mahakumbh-2025 were comprehensive, with an emphasis on surveillance and real-time monitoring. A total of about 1200 CCTV cameras, including 116 Face Recognition System (FRS) cameras and Drone cameras were also deployed for surveillance of tracks and crowd management at approach roads to stations.

Additional deployment of 15,000 personnel from the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP) and para-military forces were done to ensure security.

Also, additional deployment was made at other sensitive railway stations where high rush of passengers was expected i.e. Varanasi, Ayodhya, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Danapur and New Delhi etc.

New Delhi Railway Station has adequate infrastructure. It has 16 nos. of platforms, three foot over bridges (FOBs), access from both Paharganj and Ajmeri gate side, large open spaces in front of the station etc. Large rush of passengers during festivals and events like Kumbh, Chatth, Holi etc. are being handled regularly on New Delhi Railway Station.

Further, redevelopment of New Delhi Railway Station has been sanctioned under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.

Amrit Bharat Station Scheme envisages development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach. This scheme involves preparation of Master Plans and their implementation in phases to improve the amenities at the stations like improvement of station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lift/escalators as necessary, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products through schemes like One Station One Product, better passenger information systems, executive lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping etc. keeping in view the necessity at each such station.

The scheme also envisages improvement of building integrating the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, amenities for Divyangjans, sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballast less tracks etc. as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centres at the station in the long term.

The plan for redevelopment of New Delhi Railway station, envisages larger new station buildings at both sides, spacious Air Concourse with modern amenities for passenger, Multi Modal Transport Hub connecting different mode of transportation and providing parking and other facilities. The redeveloped station envisages a network of surface and elevated roads to provide access at two levels and to decongest surrounding areas of New Delhi railway station. Adequate security measures like CCTV cameras, access control, movement regulation and waiting space etc are also envisaged.

The details of allocation of funds for development and maintenance of stations are maintained Zonal Railway-wise and not footfall-wise or Work-wise or Station-wise. Passenger amenities are generally funded under Plan Head-53 'Customer Amenities'. An allocation of Rs.12,994 Crores (Revised Estimate) has been made for the financial year 2024-25 under Plan Head-53. New Delhi railway station in Delhi falls under Northern Railway Zone and the fund allocation to Northern Railway for development and maintenance of stations under Plan Head-53 'Customer Amenities' for the year (RE 2024-25) is Rs. 1531.24 Cr.

To handle heavy rush of passengers at stations, following decisions have been taken by railways -

Permanent holding areas at 60 stations:

a. 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.

b. Similar arrangements were made during Mahakumbh at nine stations of Prayag area.

c. 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.

d. Pilot projects have started at New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Ghaziabad stations.

e. 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.

Access control:

a. Complete access control will be initiated at the 60 stations.

b. Passengers with confirmed reserve tickets will be given direct access to the platforms.

c. Passengers without a ticket or with a waiting list ticket will wait in the outside waiting area.

d. All unauthorised entry points will be sealed.

Wider foot-over-bridges (FOB):

a. 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.

Cameras:

a. 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.

War rooms:

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

New generation communication equipment:

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

New design ID card:

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

New design uniform for staff:

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

Upgradation of station director post:

a. All major stations will have a senior officer as station director. All other departments will report to the station director.

b. Station director will get financial empowerment so that he can take on-the-spot decisions for improving the station.

Sale of tickets as per capacity:

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

CCTV cameras are installed at New Delhi railway station, which is being monitored round the clock. A high-level inquiry committee has been constituted for comprehensive investigation into the incident at New Delhi railway station. The incident of the stampede at New Delhi railway station occurred on 15.02.2025, in which 18 people died and 15 were injured.

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