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Central Railway announces restrictions at stations in Mumbai and adjoining cities to control crowds

Posted on by Pranco
Central Railway announces restrictions at stations in Mumbai and adjoining cities to control crowds

Hours after the stampede at the Bandra railway station, the Central Railway on Sunday imposed temporary restrictions on the sale of platform tickets to control the crowds on the platforms.

The Central Railway imposed restrictions at major stations including Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Dadar, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Thane, Kalyan, Pune and Nagpur to ensure smooth passenger movement within the stations.

The restriction on the sale of platform tickets will be effective immediately till November 8 during the Diwali and Chhath Puja festivals. However, the railways have exempted seniors and those with medical needs.

The Central Railway also announced two unconditional special services between Pune and Danapur during the Diwali and Chhath festivals.

“We are pleased to announce two unreserved special services from Pune-Danapur (Train No. 01419/01420) during Diwali & Chhath Festivals,” the Central Railway said in a post on X.

The move comes as several railway stations in Mumbai and neighboring cities, including Pune, Nagpur and Thane, are seeing huge footfall as people, especially migrant workers, head to their hometowns for the festivals.

Earlier on Sunday morning, nine people were injured due to chaos and stampede at the prominent Bandra Terminus of Western Railway on Sunday morning after a huge crowd tried to board the Gorkhapur-bound train in Uttar Pradesh. Reacting to the incident, the Western Railway said it is deploying over 130 special festival trains to various destinations, especially to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in view of the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festivals.

In another video statement, WR public relations head Vineet Abhishek said about 2.5 hours before its scheduled departure at 5.10 am, the train was backed onto the platform. “Unfortunately, some passengers tried to board the train while it was moving, resulting in injuries,” he said. The WR official said that considering the festival season, they have issued a notification for 2,300 runs of special trains from Mumbai Central, Bandra, Valsad, Udhna and other stations on their network.