New Delhi railway station stampede: Ex-rly officials criticise arrangements

Railways officials have ordered a probe into the incident, and have constituted a two-member committee to investigate the cause

A day after a stampede at the New Delhi railway station led to the deaths of at least 18 people, former railways officials sharply criticised the crowd management at the station, and said that the authorities should have deployed adequate manpower to administer the large number of unreserved passengers who succeeded in entering the premises.

The railways should have not issued unreserved tickets beyond a point, restricting unreserved passengers from entering the station, a former official said. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Separately, railways officials have ordered a probe into the incident, and have constituted a two-member committee to investigate the cause of the stampede.

On Saturday night, thousands of people who wished to board Prayagraj-bound trains to attend the Maha Kumbh arrived at the New Delhi station, with 7,600 unreserved tickets sold in just two hours for trains heading to the Uttar Pradesh city. However, a series of mismanaged circumstances — delayed trains, contradictory platform announcements, and an overwhelmed infrastructure — triggered a stampede at around 9.15pm, leading to the death of at least 18 people.

A retired general manager of Northern Railways said the stampede was a “completely avoidable” incident.

“This is a classic example of mismanagement by not only the railways but also the civic authorities. To begin with, the railways should have not issued unreserved tickets beyond a point, restricting unreserved passengers from entering the station. They should have created a place as a waiting area,” the former manager said, on condition of anonymity.

“The local police are also responsible for crowd control. Even when the passengers were issued excessive unreserved tickets, both the railway officials as well as the Delhi Police should have been placed at various platforms to keep a close watch on the crowd, which clearly was not done,” he said.

Another former railways official said an assessment of the crowd was not done.

“The disaster cell of the safety department seems to be inactive. The stampede would not have occurred if a crowd assessment was done. When the authority knew that there were many more passengers than expected, then they should have deployed adequate manpower to manage the crowd,” the former official said, also requesting anonymity.

A former Indian Railways official said that special trains, such as those going to Prayagraj, should not be operated from high-density platforms. “Rather, they should operate special trains from stations that do not see heavy footfall,” he said.

Meanwhile, the railways have set up a two-member committee to probe the incident.

“The committee consists of principal chief commercial manager Narsingh Deo and principal chief security commissioner Pankaj Gangwar, both from Northern Railways. The higher administrative grade (additional secretary grade) officials have begun their inquiry,” a railways spokesperson said.