How was a stampede at New Delhi railway station, in which 18 people lost their lives? Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told in Parliament

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told the Rajya Sabha on Friday (August 1, 2025) that the main reason for the stampede at New Delhi railway station on February 15 this year was a fall of heavy belongings from the head of a passenger, after which the chaos took the form of a stampede and 18 people were killed and 15 people were injured in this painful accident.

The Railway Minister said that a high level committee created to investigate this incident has submitted its report. The report said that the accident took place on the stairs of the foot over bridge-3 connecting platform number 14/15 at around 8:48 pm. A large number of devotees were present at the New Delhi railway station to board the trains going to Prayagraj at the time of the accident.

‘Many passengers were walking with heavy stuff on their heads’

According to the report, many passengers were walking with heavy luggage on the head, causing the passengers to walk smoothly on the foot over bridge and during this time heavy items fell from a passenger’s head, which increased the pressure on the stairs and the passengers started falling on each other. The report said that this stampede was limited to the stairs of platform number 14/15.

Let us tell you that 18 people lost their lives in this accident, including 11 women and 4 children. After this, five senior officials of the railway, including the DRM of Delhi Division, were transferred.

The Railway Minister also informed that many steps have been taken by the Railways to ensure that such an incident does not happen again in future. Now the railway has decided to appoint ‘station directors’ at 73 major railway stations in the crowded country. The station directors will also have the rights that to reduce the congestion at the station, they will be able to take ‘on the spot’ on the spot and immediately like the availability and capacity of the train can limit the sale of tickets so that the pressure on the platform does not increase.

‘Permanent holding area outside 73 stations’
Apart from this, the work of creating a permanent holding area outside 73 stations is also being done. Currently, a pilot project is going on for Permanent Holding Area on five stations New Delhi, Anand Bihar, Ghaziabad, Ayodhya, Varanasi. Passengers with confirmed tickets will have an entry on the platform directly, while passengers without tickets and waiting tickets will have to stay in the holding area until the train comes on the platform.

Apart from this, 12 meters wide and 6 meters wide fob is being done to improve the railway foot over bridge to improve crowd management. CCTV surveillance, walkie-talki, announcement system and war room are also being arranged at stations for crowd management.

Station directors will be appointed at major railway stations
The Railway Minister said that after the incident, many important steps have been taken for mob management. Permanent holding areas will be built at 73 railway stations across the country. The pilot project has started in New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Ghaziabad.

He said that two new standard foot over bridge designs for mob management have been developed for 12 meters (40 feet) and 6 meters (20 ft) width. These include ramps, which proved to be effective in crowd control during Mahakumbh. Now these wide FOBs will be installed at all big stations.

Apart from this, a senior officer will be appointed station director at all major railway stations, who will lead all departments and will be empowered by financial rights to take quick decisions in emergency.

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