Railway officials are considering a special standby train at New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS) to manage overcrowding, especially for Bihar-bound passengers.
A day after delays in several trains led to a heavy rush on platforms 12 and 13, officials on Monday said they are discussing whether to keep a standby train ready in the stabling yard to ease congestion whenever needed. This train will consist only of general coaches and will be deployed in situations of severe overcrowding.
“Our observations reveal that evening departures to Bihar often see overcrowding. A special train would help accommodate unreserved passengers, especially those bound for Patna and Hajipur,” a railway official said.
Indian Railways is also considering other measures, including printing train names and numbers on platform tickets, which would require updates to the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) software.
On Sunday evening, at least four trains were delayed, causing chaos on platforms 12 and 13. Though officials clarified that no stampede occurred, the incident brought back memories of the February 15 stampede, which resulted in 18 deaths.
An NDLS official explained that after the February 15 tragedy, a rule was introduced stating that no platform changes would be announced to avoid confusion. However, on Sunday, due to train delays, platform 12 remained occupied for too long, while the new rule prevented staff from shifting trains to other platforms, leading to a crowd surge.
