Lok Sabha Question No. 2998 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Crowd Control System at Railway Stations during Religious Events
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Shri Mohite Patil Dhairyasheel Rajsinh, Smt. Supriya Sule, Shri Sanjay Dina Patil, Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, Shri Amar Sharadrao Kale, Shri Bhaskar Murlidhar Bhagare, Shri Nilesh Dnyandev Lanke

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  2998

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2025

## CROWD CONTROL SYSTEM AT RAILWAY STATIONS DURING RELIGIOUS EVENTS

## 2998.   SHRI MOHITE PATIL DHAIRYASHEEL RAJSINH:

SMT. SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI NILESH DNYANDEV LANKE:

SHRI AMAR SHARADRAO KALE:

SHRI SANJAY DINA PATIL:

SHRI BHASKAR MURILDHAR BHAGARE:

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

PROF. VARSHA EKNATH GAIKWAD:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  there  was  a  stampede  at  New  Delhi  Railway  Station involving  passengers  travelling  to  the  Kumbh  Mela  and  if  so,  the number of casualties and injuries reported;
- (b) the details of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place for handling  large  gatherings  at  major  railway  stations  during  religious events;
- (c) whether  the Government  had  assessed  the  expected  influx of pilgrims at major railway stations including New Delhi ahead of the Kumbh  Mela  and  if  so,  whether  adequate  railway  police  personnel and security staff were deployed to manage the crowd;
- (d) whether the infrastructure at New Delhi Railway Station is adequate to handle large crowds during religious events like the Kumbh Mela and if so, the details thereof;

- (e) if  not,  whether the Government plans to expand platforms, increase entry-exit  points  or  upgrade  crowd  control  systems  and  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (f) the allocation of funds for improving passenger safety infrastructure at high-footfall railway stations;
- (g) whether any real-time monitoring system was in place to detect and prevent overcrowding and if so, the details thereof;
- (h) whether  lessons  from  this  stampede  incident  will  be  incorporated into future railway safety policies; and
- (i) if  so,  the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve passenger safety during future Kumbh Melas and other large religious gatherings ?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (i):  In  the  incident  of  the  stampede  at  New  Delhi  railway  station  on 15.02.2025, 18 people died and 15 were injured.

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 were 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 passengers 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  were  made  at  other  sensitive  railway  stations where high rush of passengers were 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 WiFi, 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  Workwise or Station-wise. Passenger amenities are generally funded under Plan Head-53  'Customer  Amenities'.  An  allocation  of  ₹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 ₹ 1531.24 Cr.

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

1. 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.
3. Pilot  projects  have  started  at  New  Delhi,  Anand  Vihar,  Varanasi,
- d. 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.

## 2. 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.
4. d.
5. All unauthorised entry points will be sealed.

## 3. 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.

## 4. 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.

## 5. War rooms:

- a. 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:
- a. 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:

- a. 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:
- a. 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:
- 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.

## 10. 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.

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