foot overbridges

commuters

Elphinstone Road station stampede

FOB

Central Railway

Western Railway

Central Line

Huge crowds gathered on narrow bridge at Elphinstone Road last year amid rains and resulting chaos led to the tragedy.Trains pulled in and out of Parel station (central) quickly during the evening peak hours on Thursday, but there was an unusual calm onthere aslined up and moved in an orderly fashion, heeding instructions of megaphone-holding RPF personnel.Weeks before the monsoon arrives, railway cops have started to impose a discipline code (no running, no panicking) on bridges at busy stations to prevent a repeat of thethat killed 23 people on September 29 last year.A combination of chaotic factors — a large number of people taking cover from rains on an, commuters jostling to move in opposite directions on the stairway, and rumours of a bridge collapse — triggered the stampede.After the tragedy, the RPF identified 12stations with overcrowding problems and began urging commuters to troop along in single file on Wednesday. RPF cops have been equipped with loudspeakers with a prerecorded message that asks people not to rush or panic. Apart from Parel, the other stations are Masjid, Currey Road, Chinchpokli, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Thane, Dombivali, Kalyan, Badlapur, and Ambernath. Parel is particularly a sensitive location because commuters cross over to and from the Western Line.“The old FOB at Parel, which leads to Elphinstone Road station, is heavily crowded. It’s the same situation at Currey Road, where most people use the old bridge even though a new one has been constructed,” said Sachin Bhalode, RPF senior divisional security commissioner, Central Railway. “We are monitoring all such sites and additional manpower is being deployed. Drills are now being conducted so commuters get used to walking in an orderly manner.”The FOB at Ghatkopar station that takes commuters to the nearby metro station is another trouble spot, but steps are being taken to prevent overcrowding. The RPF recently inducted 259 new cops for crowd management.“Apart from asking commuters to walk in single file on bridges, we have also started briefly stopping people at entry points to control the flow,” Bhalode said.On September 29 last year, a huge crowd had gathered on the footover bridge at Elphinstone Road station and more people kept trying to enter, worsening the situation. The exits were also blocked because commuters were waiting for the rain to ease.Anup Shukla, RPF senior divisional commissioner,, said additional staff had been deployed at the station. “If it gets too crowded, they stop people coming from thefor a few minutes,” he said.