In an effort to enhance passenger safety and streamline crowd management, Indian Railways will implement a comprehensive Access Control System along with permanent holding areas at 60 stations across the country. This decision comes after successful trials during peak rush periods, particularly during festivals and major events like the Mahakumbh, as revealed by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written statement to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The permanent holding areas will be set up outside station premises at high-traffic locations, allowing only passengers with confirmed tickets to enter the platforms when the trains arrive. This initiative is aimed at reducing congestion and ensuring smooth passenger flow. Pilot projects have already begun at major stations like New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Ghaziabad.
To further handle the heavy rush of passengers, Indian Railways will implement full access control at these stations, where only passengers with confirmed reservations will be allowed to proceed directly to the platforms. Unauthorised entry points will be sealed, and passengers with waiting list tickets will remain in the holding areas.
Additionally, Indian Railways is introducing new standard foot-over-bridge (FOB) designs, 12 meters (40 feet) and 6 meters (20 feet) wide, to ensure smoother crowd movement. These wider bridges were highly effective in crowd control during Mahakumbh and will now be installed at all major stations. A large number of CCTV cameras will also be installed in and around the stations to monitor crowds in real time; a measure that proved instrumental in managing the Mahakumbh crowd.
Large stations will have war rooms where officers from different departments will work together during high-crowd situations to ensure coordination and quick decision-making. Railways will also deploy advanced communication equipment such as digital walkie-talkies, announcement systems, and calling systems at heavy-traffic stations to improve crowd control and response times.
To ensure easy identification during emergencies, new design ID cards, and uniforms will be issued to staff members, ensuring that only authorised personnel can access critical areas. Major stations will now have a senior officer designated as Station Director, with financial and administrative powers to make real-time decisions to manage station operations efficiently.
Station Directors will also be empowered to regulate ticket sales based on station capacity and available train services, preventing overcrowding.
To further ensure safety, Indian Railways is working closely with Government Railway Police (GRP), local police, and civil authorities to create station-specific security plans. During high-traffic periods, measures such as restricting the issuance of platform tickets and deploying personnel on foot-over bridges to regulate passenger flow will be enforced.
