Lok Sabha Question No. 5136 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: Development of Permanent Holding Areas
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Ashish Dubey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5136 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2025

## DEVELOPMENT OF PERMANENT HOLDING AREAS

## † 5136.  SHRI ASHISH DUBEY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of sixty railway stations selected for the development of Permanent Holding Areas (PHAs);
- (b)
- the estimated timeline for completion of the said PHAs;
- (c) whether any feasibility studies or pilot projects had been conducted before finalizing the said initiative and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the  details  of  the  features  and  amenities  including  the  ticketing zones, Wi-Fi and food stalls planned for the said PHAs?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (d):  Indian  Railways  take  various  measures  for  crowd  handling from time to time based on the requirements of station. 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 across Zonal Railways:
- i. 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.
- ii. Similar arrangements were made during Mahakumbh at nine stations of Prayag area.
- iii. 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.
- iv. Pilot  projects  have  started  at  New  Delhi,  Anand  Vihar, Varanasi,  Ayodhya,  and  Ghaziabad  stations.  More  stations will be selected after completion of pilot projects.
- v. 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:

- i. Complete access control will be initiated at the 60 stations.
- ii. Passengers  with  confirmed  reserve  tickets  will  be  given direct access to the platforms.
- iii. Passengers without a ticket or with a waiting list ticket will wait in the outside waiting area.
4. iv.
5. All unauthorised entry points will be sealed.
3. Wider foot-over-bridges (FOB):
- i. 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:

- i. 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:
- i. 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:
- i. Latest design digital communication equipment like walkietalkies,  announcement  systems,  calling  systems  will  be installed on all heavy crowd stations.
7. New design ID card:
- i. All  staff and service persons will be given a new design ID
8. card so that only authorised persons can enter the station.
8. New design uniform for staff:
- i. 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:

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

- i. 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.

Provision  and  upgradation  of  amenities  at  railway  stations  is  a continuous and ongoing exercise. Indian Railways take various measures for crowd handling from time to time based on the requirements  of  the  station.  Several  measures  for  handling  large crowds  also  include  access  control,  ticket  checking,  CCTV  cameras, war rooms, improvement to announcement systems, digital communications etc. which is a continuous and ongoing exercise.

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