6 lc people descended on New Delhi stn per day this festive season: Railways

New Delhi: A total of 6 lakh passengers descended on the New Delhi Railway Station per day this festive season, an official statement said. Anand Vihar Terminal, New Delhi Station, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Old Delhi (or Delhi Junction) are some of the widely-used transit terminals in the national capital.

According to the statement released by the Northern Railways yesterday, the Anand Vihar Terminal handled 80,000 passengers per day during the Diwali and Chhat rush this year. The terminal handles 50,000 passengers on a normal day.

“There was about 20 per cent increase in footfall in the Delhi Junction Station. Huge crowd gathered in circulating area, waiting halls, booking counters, FOB ports, subways and platforms. The Delhi Division of Northern Railway was able to effectively handle the huge passenger rush,” Northern Railway spokesperson Neeraj Sharma said.

Northern Railway operated as many as 200 special trains in this period in co-ordination with other zonal railways, marking around 2,000 trips in all, the release said. The national transporter also enhanced passenger carrying capacity of many trains by adding 60 extra coaches, thus making available more than 1.22 lakh seats.

Sharma said massive arrangements and security measures were in place to deal with the surge in crowd, and that directions were sent from the railway board as well as by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. Intensive inspections before and during the rush period were carried out at major stations of Delhi Division, special pandals were created for passengers and they were provided with basic amenities, the release said.

A help desk and a separate public address system were also set up in the holding area for keeping the passengers informed about special trains. The train information was displayed on big LED screens, it said.
Special Duty Officers (SDOs) were deputed round-the-clock to oversee the crowd and passenger facilities at the stations, Sharma said.

An additional force of 400 RPF/RPSF personnel had been deployed at the New Delhi Station, 440 at Anand Vihar Terminal and 200 at the Old Delhi Railway Station. Railways have also installed 50 additional CCTV cameras at New Delhi over and above the existing 152 cameras, 25 at Anand Vihar Terminal, 10 at Hazrat Nizamuddin and 15 at Old Delhi in circulating area and sensitive spots, the release added.

On an average, the four prominent railway stations of Delhi see an overall footfall of 8.5 lakh passengers everyday.