Passengers got confused between 'Prayagraj Express, Special': Officials

People who were reaching Platform 14 thought their train was arriving at Platform 16 and they rushed towards it, leading to the stampede, officials said

The deadly stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station last evening happened as passengers got confused between 'Prayagraj Express and Prayagraj Special', and rushed to change their platform after an announcement, officials said on Sunday.

 

Sources in the police department said that according to their preliminary investigation, the confusion happened because of the announcement of the trains having same initial name 'Prayagraj'.

 

The Railway Ministry said the announcement for the arrival of the 'Prayagraj Special' at platform number 12 made passengers waiting for 'Prayagraj Express' at platform number 14 jittery and they rushed to platform number 12, leading to the stampede and the tragic death of 18 people.

 

Railway officials said these two were different trains but had somewhat similar names, and people couldn't make out the difference.

 

Worried that they might miss the train, a huge influx of people invaded the stairs causing the stampede.

 

"There is an unprecedented rush due to the Maha Kumbh. Many special trains have been operating for the past several days. Prayagraj Express was about to arrive at platform number 14 and passengers were waiting to board the train," Railway Board Executive Director (Information and Publicity) Dilip Kumar said.

 

"There was some time left for the Prayagraj Express to come to the platform (14). Meanwhile, an announcement was made for another train -- Prayagraj Special -- to arrive at platform number 12. Before this one, one more special train had already left that platform," Kumar added.

 

The passengers waiting on platform number 14 thinking that their train would come at 12, started moving towards the escalators and stairs which led to the stampeded.

 

The ministry also released the list of disbursement of compensation amount according to which besides 18 dead, three were grievously injured and 27 received minor injuries.

 

Out of the 27, 11 were given treatment and released from the hospital.

 

"The officials of the Northern Railway are taking all efforts to manage this unprecedented crowd of passengers," Kumar said, expressing grief for those who lost their lives in the incident.

 

Earlier in the day, sources in the police department said that according to initial investigation by the Delhi Police the announcement of the 'Prayagraj Special' arriving at "Platform 16 led to the confusion among the waiting passengers because the 'Prayagraj Express' was already at Platform 14".

 

They also said that what added to the chaos was that out of four trains heading to Prayagraj three were delayed, causing an unexpected overcrowding.

 

A witness also told PTI, "There was confusion among the passengers regarding the train names and the change of platforms of the trains. Which ultimately led to the tragedy.