Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw chaired a high-level meeting on Friday to address crowd management at railway stations. In response to the recent stampede at New Delhi Railway Station, which resulted in 18 fatalities, the minister announced the establishment of permanent waiting areas outside 60 stations nationwide.
As part of the measures, pilot projects have been launched at key stations, including New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Patna. Under this initiative, passengers will be allowed onto platforms only when their trains arrive to ease congestion. Inspired by Mahakumbh arrangements, the Indian Railways introduced two new Foot Over Bridge (FOB) designs—12 meters (40 feet) and 6 meters (20 feet) wide—which will be installed across stations. Additionally, an extensive network of cameras will be deployed for surveillance, and railway staff will receive new identity cards to restrict unauthorized entry.
Station directors will also be empowered to regulate ticket sales based on the station’s capacity and train availability, ensuring better crowd management.
Meanwhile, the Railway Ministry has decided to cancel all pending departmental selections for Group C posts that had not been finalized before March 4 due to irregularities in the selection process. The Ministry clarified, “Due to several irregularities observed in the departmental selections recently, it has been decided to revisit the framework, and all pending selections within Group C that were not finalised by March 4 are now cancelled. No further selections will be initiated until further instructions are issued.”
Following the February 15 stampede, Indian Railways announced compensation of ₹10 lakh for the families of the deceased, ₹2.5 lakh for those with serious injuries, and ₹1 lakh for those with minor injuries.
