‘Outrauses for passenger safety and convenience are the best tragic’. Photo Credit: Annie
A holy dip in the Kumbh for a cacoffney of religious enthusiasm, railway stations, Josting crowds, and sesellese announcements about the number of train services between the signs and the passengers for Riyagraj are an uncomfortable truth, an uncomfortable truth: an uncomfortable truth is: the attitude for passenger safety and convenience, which is the best different.
It is a bitter bullet to swallow, but it should be swallowed, recently for the tragedy – stampede at New Delhi railway station on February 15 – once again exposed Chinak in Indian Railways armor. This has not produced bare systemic failures from lack of resources, but has produced indifference to basic needs.
Half-hearted
The first question is unavoidable. Was was the stampede escaping in New Delhi? Answer: Yes, it was. Between all the noise and transfer of defects, there are some half-incomplete-truths that demand an inquiry, for those parts that are hidden, they also hide the seeds of the tragedy. In any congestion control landscape, a stampede is avoided by smooth, large -scale unilateral movement, eliminating hurdles and implementing strong barricading with adequate staffing of security personnel. All these fundamental principles were ignored brilliantly.
Railway representatives have repeatedly stated that no stage change was made. Nevertheless, the last-minute of a special unreserved train for prayer on platform 12, when already had a large crowd of unreserved passengers on platform 14 for the adornment, was a tantamount for a change, triggered, chaotic, growth of conflicting movements.
It is also learned – although not yet verified – that the control room, equipped with CCTV coverage, failed to stop the escalator, notorious to become bottlenecks in such situations. In addition, on one side there were inadequate number of railway security forces personnel and security arrangements on the other and barricading.
It is claimed that such a large crowd, especially unreserved travelers, were unpredictable, defying logic. The Railway Ministry was proud to announce that more than 1.5 million passengers were traveled in about 350 trains for prayer in February. A simple calculation suggests that it translates about 300 unreserved passengers into a coach, which is packed like Sardin. New Delhi is a focal point for passengers in North India, and the horrors of the crowd can be estimated based on the recent important ‘bathing days’ in Kumbh. Indian Railways claims that it was a weak line of defense due to sudden increase in ticket sales in the evening.
The defect has been transferred to the passengers subtle – that they collected in large numbers that they bought a large number of tickets, and they did not pay attention to the announcements. Nevertheless, none of it was unprecedented.
The festival time always draws huge crowds, and special trains are regularly run to passengers with boats, mainly in eastern parts of the country. Unreserved tickets are usually sold in large numbers on such occasions, and there are protocols installed to handle it. The Delhi Division of Indian Railways had to do all that the arrangements were to be repeated and tested for decades.
Conflicting statement
Some crowd control measures offered after the tragedy – such as additional security personnel, construction of holding areas, better CCTV monitoring, and preventing sales of platform tickets – are rarely rocket sciences. Was it not for the grief of the families of the victims, this tragedy would be attractive to woo a coming to the railway amidst its magnificent announcements. On one hand, it reveals the hollow effort of the railway to sell an object that he does not have: to ensure a dignified journey for the devotees. On the other hand, it highlights railway failure to properly apply basic crowd control measures within its capacity.
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For about a day, the Railways kept changing their story – from refusal to weakening and promoting insensitivity. Conflicting statements were made by various spokes, before confirming the death toll, the Gratikas Tamasha was concluded to distribute pre -condolences to the mourned families. As if it was not very bad, the statements of the responsible government quarters suggested to investigate the alleged conspirator “fake news”, trying the stampede. This defect marked by the condolences, the habit of the railway, echoes the habit of sabotaging every accident or near-accident-has not proved to be a case.
History is filled with warning, yet the rule in the railway, including earlier, behaves like a student who refuses to learn. There have been similar tragedies before, including a stampede at Allahabad Mela in September 2017 at Elphinstone Road railway station in Mumbai and during the Kumbh Mela in February 2013. But the past, as they say, is prolog, but only if someone is ready to learn from it.
Another defect
Distracted, the first step towards accountability is already a wrong. The “high-level” inquiry is to be conducted by senior railway authorities, which oversee many departments who can be guilty. In contrast, even a single ambassador in a train accident, one unit independent of the Ministry of Railway Safety (CRS) warns an inquiry by the Commissioner (CRS). Although technically not classified as a train accident, an independent investigation – whether by CRS or any other external agency – would have demonstrated the railway’s commitment to transparency. Nevertheless, as it stands, the railway is both accused and judges.
The heart of the issue goes even deeper. Is there an underlying illness within the railway, the nation’s lifeline is considered, the more things they should change, the more they remain equal? As long as the Railways faces their own systemic inertia, such tragedies will continue to be written as an unfortunate imperative rather than failures to be stopped.
Sudhanshu Mani is a retired general manager, Indian Railways, Railway leader ‘Vande Bharat’ project and an independent advisor
Published – 27 February, 2025 12:08 am IST