Stampede Shame

Stampedes at railway stations in India are tragically common, but they are preventable. The chaos that unfolded at New Delhi Railway Station was no accident but an inevitable consequence of systemic neglect. 18 people, including children and the elderly, perished in a crowd surge, while dozens were injured. The authorities’ response, marked by delays, poor communication and a lack of contingency planning underscores a familiar pattern of failure.

The warning signs were all there. Hours before the stampede, social media posts alerted officials to swelling crowds. Yet, no effort was made to control the influx of passengers. Instead, a sudden change in platform assignments triggered a frantic rush. Confused travellers, many of them elderly or carrying luggage, found themselves in a deadly bottleneck near the staircases and bridges leading to platforms 13 and 14. Even basic safety measures were absent. Security officials attempting to manage the crowd inadvertently worsened the situation by halting movement at crucial junctions, creating a deadly pressure wave of bodies pushing forward. With no officials to guide them and no clear announcements over the din, panic ensued.

Such disasters are not new. India has witnessed deadly stampedes at religious gatherings, political rallies and train stations for decades. In 2017, a stampede on a narrow bridge at Mumbai’s Elphinstone Road Station killed 23 people. In 2018, a stampede at a railway station in Varanasi left several dead. Last year, a similar disaster at a temple in Madhya Pradesh killed over a hundred pilgrims. The recurring theme in all these incidents is the failure of authorities to anticipate and manage large crowds.

The Railways’ sluggish response only made matters worse. Conflicting statements from officials confused the public. While the Ministry of Railways initially dismissed the news of a stampede as ‘rumours,’ Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor later confirmed the deaths. Even then, it took the authorities nearly 20 hours to acknowledge the scale of the disaster. Information about the deceased trickled out slowly, leaving families scrambling for details.

The so-called solutions that followed are cosmetic. A two-member committee was hastily formed to probe the incident - an exercise likely to yield little beyond bureaucratic paperwork. Meanwhile, the decision to divert special trains to platform 16 and advise passengers to use the Ajmeri Gate entrance is a band-aid, not a cure. A fundamental overhaul of crowd management protocols is needed if such tragedies are to be averted.

A railway station that handles over 400 trains and thousands of passengers daily must have a robust crisis management system in place. Live crowd monitoring, better queue management, clear public announcements and designated safety marshals should be the norm. Ticket sales in general compartments should be regulated to avoid overcrowding. Stampedes do not happen in isolation. They are the result of negligence, poor planning, and an absence of accountability. Until authorities treat crowd safety as a priority rather than an afterthought, these tragedies will continue to repeat themselves. India does not lack the resources to prevent stampedes but lacks the will.