The Northern Railway on Wednesday advised people travelling during the festive season to arrive at stations not more than 15 to 20 minutes before the departure of their trains to avoid overcrowding and incidents like stampedes. Special holding areas will be earmarked for people to wait if they come early and this will help reduce pressure on platforms that have limited space, Northern Railway General Manager Shobhan Chaudhuri told reporters.
During the festive season in 2010, a stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station left two people dead and several injured. "Stampede-like mishaps can occur if people are not careful and alert. People might fall from the platform onto the track in case of overcrowding. Besides, they can cause a lot of inconvenience for themselves and also to other passengers," Chaudhuri said.
The official said that to avoid overcrowding, "passengers planning to travel during the festive season are urged to arrive at platforms only 15 to 20 minutes before the departure of their trains so that unnecessary crowding and untoward incidents like stampede can be averted".
Chaudhuri said that the Northern Railway has made arrangements for crowd management and queue control. "We will be deploying a large number of security and Railway Protection Force personnel to control crowds at stations and to guide passengers," he said.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI)