After Delhi stampede, several measures taken to avoid untoward incidents in future: Railways

New Delhi: A day after a stampede at the New Delhi railway station left at least 18 people dead and more than a dozen injured, the railway ministry said on Sunday that several measures have been enforced to avoid any such untoward incident in the future.

"It has been decided that all special trains in the direction of Prayagraj will be run from platform number 16. Therefore, all the passengers wanting to go to Prayagraj shall come and go from the Ajmeri Gate side of the New Delhi railway station," a press statement issued by the ministry said.

It added that regular trains will continue to be operated from all platforms as usual. "This is a step in the direction of avoiding peak-hour rush getting accumulated in one platform," it said.

The ministry has also increased the deployment of the Railway Police Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) forces at the New Delhi station to assist passengers by guiding them towards the platform from which their trains are scheduled to depart.

"In addition to the focus on increased operational efficiency in rush hours, Northern Railway ran three special trains by evening 7 pm to clear the additional rush in the direction of Prayagraj. This includes one special train to Darbhanga via Prayagraj and two more special trains towards Prayagraj," the press note said.

"Besides regular trains towards Prayagraj, one more special train is scheduled to depart at 9 pm to cater to the peak evening-hour demand. Given the unprecedented crowd of travellers wanting to go in the direction of Prayagraj, Indian Railways has scheduled five more special trains tomorrow, i.e. February 17, 2025, for Maha Kumbh devotees," it added.

The ministry has also requested passengers not to pay heed to rumours and asked them to reach out to Helpline number 139 for any enquiry and passenger support.

"Indian Railways has received more than 130 calls relating to yesterday's unfortunate incident on this helpline number by 5 pm today. Further, Indian Railways personnel assisted the families of each deceased by accompanying them to their homes and took part in their final rites," the press note said.

"Earlier in the day, Indian Railways gave an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of all the 18 deceased. An amount of Rs 2.5 lakh to grievously injured passengers and a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for passengers with minor injuries were distributed to the 15 injured during the day," it added.

The ministry has set up a two-member high-level committee to probe Saturday's stampede and the panel has already started working.

"The committee comprises Shri Pankaj Gangwar, Principal Chief Security Commissioner, and Shri Nar Singh, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, both Higher Administrative Grade officers," the ministry said.