Days after New Delhi Railway Station stampede during Mahakumbh, THESE 4 delayed trains cause ‘heavy rush’

Several trains were reportedly delayed at New Delhi Railway Station on Sunday, March 23 night. This delayed departure caused heavy rush of passengers at platforms 12 and 13, police officers and railway officials informed Hindustan Times. The officials further assured that no injuries or stampede occurred.

“There was no stampede, only some extra crowd and heavy rush. Due to the delay (in departure) of a few trains, extra rush had built up. After the trains left, the situation was better,” HT quoted DCP (railway) KPS Malhotra as saying.

The incident brings back the shocking memories of the recent stampede at New Delhi Railway Station, which took place on February 15 during Mahakumbh. In the incident, 18 people were killed and many others were injured. The last stampede incident had happened within minutes between 9:30 PM and 10:15 PM on platform number 14.

Many people were trapped on the foot over-bridge, stairs, and escalators when two trains were also delayed, namely Swatantra Senani Express and Delhi-Bhubneshwar Rajdhani Express.

According to officials, the stampede situation did not reoccur on Sunday despite heavy influx of passengers at the premises around 9:00 PM. The crowd was swiftly brought under control once the trains departed.

4 delayed trains that caused ‘heavy rush’

Delhi police informed that the departure of four trains got delayed, including the ‘Shiv Ganga Express’ which was scheduled to depart at 8:05 PM and the ‘Jammu Rajdhani Express’ which was scheduled to depart at 9:25 PM. Besides this, ‘Lucknow Mail’ which was scheduled to depart at 10:00 PM was also delayed, in addition to ‘Magadh Express’ which was scheduled to depart at 9:05 PM.

The confusion was compounded by the ‘Swatantrata Senani Express,’ which was scheduled to depart at 9:15 PM but was already occupying the platform.

An official said, “Due to the cumulative effect of the delays, there was heavy passenger congestion at platforms 12 and 13. Necessary crowd control measures had to be promptly taken to avoid any untoward incident,” HT reported.

A Railway Protection Force official said that the RPF team promptly rushed to the platform as a precautionary measure, adding he said, "But nothing happened, we just dispersed the crowd as the trains started coming.” A Northern Railways Public Relations Officer asserted that There was heavy rush at NDLS but no stampede or stampede-like situation happened.

Northern Railway CPRO Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay informed that the authorities immediately implemented crowd control measures and utilised holding areas as soon as large influx of passengers was noted.