Only confirmed ticket holders will be allowed to enter platforms at 60 railway stations

New Delhi: To prevent overcrowding at railway platforms, Indian Railways has decided that only passengers having confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter platforms at 60 busy stations including Bengaluru.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who held a meeting with top railway officials on Friday, announced crowd control measures to be implemented across major stations in the country that periodically face heavy footfall.

The railway would build a permanent waiting area outside these 60 stations and officials would enforce access control.

"Complete access control will be initiated at the 60 stations. Passengers with confirmed reserve tickets will be given direct access to the platforms. Those without a ticket or with a waiting list ticket will wait in the outside waiting area. All unauthorised entry points at stations will be sealed," the statement said.

Pilot projects of access control have started at New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Patna stations. "With this concept, the sudden crowd will be contained within the waiting area. Passengers will be allowed to go to the platforms only when the trains arrive. This will decongest the stations," it said.

The decision comes close to a month after 18 people were killed in a stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station due to alleged overcrowding at platforms.

"During the 2024 festival season, waiting areas created outside the Surat, Udhna, Patna and New Delhi railway stations were able to hold large crowds. Passengers were allowed on the platform only when the train arrived," the statement said.

Similar arrangements made at nine stations in Prayagraj during Maha Kumbh proved to be effective too.

Another major decision was to construct wider Foot Over Bridges (FOB). Two new designs — for 12-metre wide (40 feet) and 6-metre wide (20 feet) standard FOBs — have been developed.

Officials said these wide FOBs with ramps were effective in crowd management during the Kumbh.

"A large number of cameras will be installed at all these railway stations and adjoining areas for close monitoring. War rooms will be developed at large stations. Officers of all departments will work in the war room during crowd situations," it said.

A new design ID card for staff and service persons, a new uniform that will make the staff easily identifiable in a crisis situation, and a senior officer would be appointed as station director at major stations with financial power to take on-the-spot decisions to improve the station.

"The station director will be empowered to control the sale of tickets as per capacity of the station and the available trains," the statement said.