New Delhi Railway Station Stampede

The stampede that has taken almost 18 lives at the New Delhi Railway Station on Saturday must make the railway authorities ponder over the mismanagement that has shocked the entire nation. The initial probe has established that this stampede was the result due to the confusion among the passengers .The confusion took place due the nomenclature of the trains, one being the Prayagraj Express and the other being the Prayagraj Special. Both the trains have the same initial name and their announcement caused pandemonium and desperation among the passengers to catch the trains. They mistook one as the other. As per the Delhi Police. The announcement of the Prayagraj Special arriving at platform 16 led to the confusion among the passengers who were waiting as the Prayagraj Express was already on platform 14. The passengers who were on the way towards platform 14 felt that the train they were supposed to board was arriving at platform 16 and thus started rushing in that direction. This led to stampede. Adding to this confusion on the railway platforms was the delay caused in the three out of four trains that were heading towards Prayagraj. It led to tremendous overcrowding at the railway station. After this grave tragedy there were certain changes that were visible on the New Delhi Railway Station. Delhi Police and Railway Protection Force(RPF) were seen actively managing the passenger crowd and assisting the passengers in boarding the trains on Sunday .To make the things easier for the people and avoid the confusion over the train boarding, the security personnel are using the loudspeakers and taking rounds at the station with the senior officers of the RPF supervising the safety measures. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railway) KPS Malhotra has said that the situation is under control. Keeping in view the heavy footfall there is an extra deployment for the special trains and for the regular trains as well. Police has also resorted to the rope barricading. It is proper to mention that earlier there was a stampede at the Sangam site in Prayagraj and now this is second in the series of stampedes that has eclipsed the on-going Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj. One thing is clear that keeping in view the pan India nature of the Maha Kumbh there is a dire need to manage all kinds of traffic that is ferrying the passengers to and fro Prayagraj. The New Delhi Railway Station stampede must create a sense of urgency in the policy circles to update the traffic management both at the railway stations and airports besides the bus terminals. The extraordinary crowd that is being witnessed is a challenge and needs to be addressed at all levels. It needs additional security deployment and at the same time it needs the implementation of the modern techniques for crowd management. India needs to update its railway passenger management system at the railway systems keeping in view the carrying capacity to secure the people while travelling. Railway is the most common mode of transport for passengers due to its economic viability and connectivity across India. We cannot afford to wait and watch. The need is not only to upgrade the railway infrastructure but also to modernise the passenger management system at the railway station during the peak seasons so that human tragedies are avoided. We hope that this stampede will act as an eye opener and the Indian Railways will put in place a better crowd management system at the platform to save precious lives.