Mumbai, Oct 28 (PTI) Western Railway has set up a holding area with a capacity of 500-600 passengers at Bandra Terminus, an official said on Monday, the move coming a day after a stampede led to 10 persons getting injured.
The stampede took place at 2:45am on Sunday when people tried to board the Bandra-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express while it was entering platform number 1 from the yard. The train was scheduled to depart at 5:10am.
The terminus was packed to the brim with thousands of passengers wanting to get to their natives places, mostly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, for Diwali and Chhath festivals.
“A passenger holding area of 370 square metres has been set up in the east side of the circulating area of Bandra Terminus for effective crowd management. This holding area can accommodate 500-600 passengers at a time.,” WR chief public relations officer Vineet Abhishek told PTI.
“It has adequate lighting and fans as well as three water fountains and a toilet block. A public address system will tell passengers in the holding area about train movements. It will allow safe and smooth journey for passengers,” he added.
Since October 15, WR has operated 200 special services to clear the festival rush and 11 lakh people have travelled so far, Abhishek said.
“This is 86 per cent higher than last year. We had operated 107 services last year and 9 lakh people had used it,” the official said. PTI KK BNM
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