Crowd Management Archives - Lokmarg

Tej Bahadur Singh, a frequent train traveller, feels that the Railways need to be more professionally handled and not act as fire brigade. His views:

The recent stampede at the New Delhi railway station not only raised questions about the professional capabilities of the railways to handle a sudden burst of crowd but also put a blot on the Maha Kumbh 2025. How could you substantiate and pat your back by crafting out a holding area after the damage is done? Looking into the huge inflow of crowd by all possible means of transport, shouldn’t such preventive steps have been taken well in advance to save the loss of lives?

What I could make out (through various news inputs) that the incident happened due to sheer negligence and miscommunication between various agencies who were responsible for the smooth movement of trains and passengers. I was surprised to see (on a news channel) two different claims made by two agencies – the passengers confused between similar names of two trains and two confusing announcements.

It’s not that such a huge inflow was not expected or it was sudden – the Kumbh started on January 13^th and had already witnessed a stampede in the Mela on January 29^th that killed over two dozen and injured many. All news mediums were full of news and inputs about the intensity and size of the crowd travelling towards Prayagraj by all kinds of means. Were such inputs missed out by the railways or they were over confident about their preparations?

If I, as a common man, could clearly see the reasons behind the tragedy and suggest possible remedies, how can one of the biggest organizations in the world miss them?

There was a sudden surge in the sale of unreserved tickets (from 7000 to over 9500) in the peak hours and this could have been easily stopped after reaching an admissible limit and the public should have been stopped from entering the railway station. If there is some procedure to check over selling of unreserved tickets, it should be followed or if there is no such thing in practice, it should be adopted.

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Another `inefficiency’ that has been highlighted everywhere is that confusing announcements (regarding trains and platforms) were made triggering chaos that transformed into a stampede. What I could suggest is that in case of such a situation, there should be a central announcement unit that should handle and broadcast sensitive information with additional words of caution.

Another broadly visible sign was the crowd that was increasing and swelling out of proportion every minute. It is not that the crowd swelled suddenly but it took hours before things blew out of proportion leading to the fatal accident. Might be a possibility that the railways were caught off guard but the Local Intelligence Unit also failed to gauge the situation well in advance. The LIU should pass information related to movement of huge turnout towards the railway stations to competent authorities so that preparations could be made well in advance to avert such incidents.

Now, the loss of lives could not be substantiated in any manner, the railways and other authorities should take a strict lesson from this and make foolproof arrangements for such events and gatherings in the near future.

As told to Rajat Rai

Chandan Singh, a frequent train traveler, recounts his harrowing experience while travelling from Delhi to Lucknow amid heavy rush of passengers. His story:

A few days ago, I booked a train ticket from Delhi to Lucknow. When I reached the Anand Vihar Terminal to board the train, I was shocked to see the rush on the platform. It appeared impossible for me to locate my coach as one could not even walk at own will; you were moving with the sea of passengers. With great difficulty and some jostling around I managed to reach my designated compartment; but I could imagine the plight of an elderly passenger.

My harrowing experience continued inside the compartment. The AC coach was filled to the brim by unruly passengers who literally turned it into cattle class. There was no place to move around or stretch, and the situation continued until I reached Lucknow. There, it was a fresh struggle to get down from the coach.

I have been reading and watching about such situations every festive season when residents of UP-Bihar travel en masse from various cities to reach home for Diwali or Chhath Puja, but to experience it first hand was a traumatic encounter.

It is not that the Railway officials are not aware of such rush; after all this is an annual occurrence for decades. But they wake up from their slumber only when an untoward stampede happens, as did recently at Bandra Terminus. This government has to its credentials superfast trains like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat Rapid Rails. So why can it not manage the festive rush? Why issue so many tickets when you know that it is next to impossible to accommodate so many passengers? And how are the ticket checking staff expected to check the tickets of every passenger in the train when there is literally no place to even breathe, forget walking in the coach?

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Before the onset of the festive season, a large number of announcements are made regarding steps to be taken to manage crowd inside and outside the train, like special ticket counters, designated holding areas, automated vending machines, increased police presence… Yet, every year the situation only worsens, as I experienced it first-hand. I still cannot figure out why the government and the railways are focusing on crowd management rather than taking steps to limit the number of passengers?

I recently read that the railways has also temporarily suspended the sale of platform tickets in the festive season. How is this going to help? It is a well-established fact that a negligible number of people coming to the railway station for any purpose buy platform tickets and leave behind checking platform tickets, the staff of the railways is hardly able to check the ticket of all the passengers when the crowd deboards a train and rushes out of the station.

I personally cannot make out a suitable and effective remedy for this situation but Railway officials must put their heads together to thrash out a solution. What I can suggest is that besides increasing the number of trains, passengers also need to be educated on a regular basis about the usage of the resources being provided by the government and the options available besides trains to reach their destinations.

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As told to Rajat Rai

Tag: Crowd Management

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‘Train Travel During Festive Season Is A Traumatic Experience’