New Delhi: With a stampede at the New Delhi
Railway Station resulting in the death of two persons on Sunday,
the Railways is mulling shifting of more east-bound trains
from there to the newly-constructed Anand Vihar Terminal to
ease rush and avert such incidents.
Senior Railway officials said they were seriously
considering shifting of more trains proceeding to eastern
states like West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand to the
Anand Vihar terminal in east Delhi.
Railways have already announced that seven trains, which
were originating from New Delhi, will now depart to their
respective destinations from Anand Vihar.
"Railways are also running special trains from Anand
Vihar Station, with 2,000 trips arranged for this summer
season alone," a senior official said.
The Anand Vihar terminal was opened in December with much
fan fare by the Railways but there was lukewarm response from
the public.
Now with Metro at the doorsteps of the terminal, Railways
will shift more trains to Anand Vihar to avert such kinds of
incidents and ease pressure on the New Delhi Railway Station,
the official said.
New monitoring system
Meanwhile, a new monitoring system for train
announcements and early completion of under construction
foot-over-bridges are some of the measures being planned by
Northern Railways to avoid incidents like the stampede today.
"A new monitoring system for the announcement of trains,
early completion of the under construction FOB, better
deployment of staff and stopping of sale of platform tickets
are some of the measures being planned by Railways to avoid
such incidents," a Northern Railway official said.
Also, people coming to New Delhi
Railway Station to see off their loved ones will not be able
to enter platforms from tomorrow with the Railways deciding to
stop sale of platform tickets to control crowd inside.
The decision came tonight in the wake of the stampede.
"We will stop the sale of platform tickets from
tomorrow. This is aimed at controlling crowd inside the
platforms," a Railway official said here.
PTI
