MUMBAI: A day after Central Railway (CR) conducted a mock drill on select stations, Western Railway (WR) on Thursday followed suit at Elphinstone Road, Andheri, Jogeshwari and Kandivali stations on Thursday. The exercise was done to better crowd management ahead of the monsoon.
Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer of WR, said it has identified 34 foot overbridges (FOBs) of 30 suburban stations as more sensitive. “In order to ensure preparedness for the monsoon, mock drills were held at our crucially crowded stations Elphinstone Road, Andheri, Jogeshwari and Kandivali stations,” Mr Bhakar said.
He also said that similar drills at other locations would be carried out soon before the arrival of monsoon. “Disaster management seminars have also been planned in order to educate staff on how to effectively deal with such situations. During mock drills, passengers were instructed not to use mobile phones while walking on FOBs, dispel rumours, not to congregate at FOB passages and to follow announcements,” Mr Bhakar added. According to the WR, the Railway Police Force (RPF) has deployed sufficient personnel at all the sensitive FOBs of 38 suburban stations of Mumbai, besides 232 MSSC personnel and 97 lady home guards have also been outsourced to assist the RPF personnel in crowd control. Crowds are also being extensively monitored via CCTV cameras.
The mock drill was conducted on the FOB at the south end at platforms number 8 and 9 of Andheri station, which witnesses 1.50 lakh passengers’ footfall every day.
Meanwhile, Andheri RPF station, senior police inspector Sanjay Choudhary said, “There is a requirement of 264 CCTVs for Andheri, Jogeshwari and Ram Mandir railway stations to capture unlawful activity.”
