Railways to perk up security in peak hours

Mumbai: Western Railway (WR) is likely to deploy around 150 extra security personnel from the Homeguard and the Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) in the coming week to manage peak hour crowds on platforms in the coming week. This deployment will be seen at all stations with high footfalls as well as stations like Elphinstone which may have low footfalls, but high choking points like the FOB, for instance. The measures have been taken after the stampede at the Parel- Elphinstone FOB on September 29, which left 23 dead.

The chief public relations officer, Mr Ravindra Bhakhar said, “We will be getting around 97 personnel from the Homeguards and two RPSF battalions consisting of 50 personnel each.” The extra security personnel has been a long standing demand from both Central and Western Railway and the 150 security personnel is WR’s first initiative among a slew of others which are mentioned in the audit report.

Stations like Dadar, Andheri, Virar, Borivali will benefit from the presence of the additional security personnel as they see footfalls ranging from eight to 12 lakhs during peak hours per day.

On the other hand, stations like Malad, Kandivali and Jogeshwari, which see footfalls of 4-5 lakh per day will have increased security personnel due to the limited infrastructure at the stations, like narrow FOBs and entry/exit points.

WR’s probe into the Elphinstone Road tragedy had revealed that the stampede on the Parel-Elphinstone Bridge was a result of panic and rumour among commuters. The report of the same investigation had pointed out that the witness’s statement about the misunderstanding regarding the word ‘phool padle’ (the flowers have fallen) in Marathi was misunderstood by the public as the ‘pool’ in Hindi, which stands for bridge as well.

The probe report is now with the WR headquarters in Churchgate and is being looked into by the General Manger, Mr A. K, Gupta before submitting it to the Railway Board.