Central Railway to undertake mock drill for crowd management at four stations

MUMBAI: Central Railway (CR) will undertake mock drills at four Mumbai stations on Wednesday to check the crowd management preparedness.

CR has been taking extra precaution to tackle crowd because of the stampede due to rains on September 29 when 23 people had died at Elphinstone Road Foot Over Bridge.

A senior CR official said, "The mock drill will be undertaken at Parel, Dadar, Currey Road and Chinchpokli stations."

CR will rope in Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel and officials from commercial department.

CR has prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for crowd management. The mock drill will help ascertain how the personnel follow the SOPs.

CR has already decided to build sheds outside the station area but adjacent to FOBs to allow people to take shelter in case of heavy rains.

RPF has already begun deploying personnel at Parel to ensure that commuters enter the platform in queue.