New Delhi station stampede: No platform tickets between 4-11 pm for a week

Authorities have announced that, starting from Monday, platform tickets will not be sold between 4 and 11 pm for a week following a deadly stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station

To ensure smooth passenger flow, the Northern Railway has temporarily limited the sale of platform tickets at the New Delhi railway station. Platform tickets will not be available at the New Delhi railway station between 4 and 11 pm during the upcoming week. 

 

This decision comes just hours after a stampede at the station on Saturday night at around 10 pm left 18 people dead and numerous others injured.

 

Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay, CPRO, Northern Railways stated, "The suspension of platform ticket sales from 4 PM to 11 PM at New Delhi Railway Station has been implemented for the next week to manage crowd control". 

New Delhi station stampede: Insights 

To control the crowd situation, the Delhi Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were sent to the New Delhi Railway station on Monday. For further assistance, the CRP will also work with the Delhi Police, according to official sources. At the station, senior CRP offices are conducting checks.

 

For families of the deceased, Indian Railways has granted compensation of Rs 10 lakh, Rs 2.5 lakh for those with catastrophic injuries, and Rs 1 lakh for those with mild injuries.

New Delhi station stampede: Platform ticket restrictions imposed at stations

To prevent crowding at the major train stations, railway authorities have taken a number of actions, such as limiting the sale of platform tickets. The Central Railway temporarily restricted the sale of platform tickets at a few key stations in order to control crowding during the year-end rush. 

 

These limitations were in effect from December 29 until January 2, 2025, at 14 important stations, including 13 in Maharashtra and 1 in Karnataka. The stations that were impacted were Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik Road, Bhusaval, Akola, Solapur, and Latur in Maharashtra, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Dadar, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Thane, Kalyan, and Panvel in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. 

All about the New Delhi railway station stampede

The Prayagraj Express was stationed at platform 14, and the officials went there to get CCTV footage for their investigation. A surge of passengers, especially those awaiting the delayed Swatantrata Senani Express and Bhubaneswar Rajdhani, caused chaos during the Saturday night stampede, which took place between 9 and 9:20 PM. 

 

18 people were killed and numerous others were injured in the tragic incident, which happened during the Maha Kumbh rush. Around 7,000 general class tickets are normally booked at the station every day between 6 and 8 p.m., according to the Indian Express. 

 

Nevertheless, more than 9,600 tickets were purchased during that period on the day of the stampede, which added to the intense crowd pressure. This move follows an inspection by a two-member committee formed by the Railway Ministry to investigate the incident.