India’s Railway Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a ‘high-level’ meeting to plan crowd control measures to prevent stampede cases, reported the news agency ANI on March 7.
Indian Railways plans to create permanent waiting areas outside 60 stations across the country, which periodically experience heavy crowding situations, as per the report.
According to the news agency’s report, this move from the Railway Minister comes after the stampede incidents, which happened due to the massive footfall of people in the previous festive season and Mahakumbh 2025.
Pilot projects for these waiting areas have started at New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Patna stations. The government aims to create these waiting areas to decongest the platforms, so passengers will only be allowed to go to the platforms when the train arrives at the designated platform, reported the news agency.
Railway waiting area details
Indian Railways will initiate complete access control in the 60 stations, and only the passengers who have confirmed reserve tickets will be given access to the platforms. All unauthorised entry points will be sealed, according to the news agency report.
The new designs for the waiting area show a 12-metre-wide (40 feet) and 6-metre-wide (20 feet) with standard FOB has been developed. According to the news report, the wide Foot-Over-Bridge (FOB) with ramps were effective in managing the crowd during Mahakumbh 2025. Indian Railways aims to install these standard-wide FOBs in all the stations, as per the report.
Other essential aspects of the crowd management were the Camera, War Room, and key personnel appointed at each station. These aspects contributed in a major way to the crowd management during Mahakumbh 2025.
Many cameras are set to be installed in all the stations and nearby areas to monitor the crowd closely. Along with that, war rooms will also be developed where officers from all departments will work during heavy crowd situations, reported the news agency.
All major stations will have a senior officer as a station director who will have the authority to make spot decisions to manage the railway station. The station director will also control the sale of tickets analysing the station’s capacity and the number os trains available.