On February 15, a tragic stampede occurred at New Delhi Railway Station, resulting in at least 18 fatalities and numerous injuries. The incident took place around 8 pm on platforms 14 and 15, where passengers had gathered to board trains heading to Prayagraj, the location of the ongoing Mahakumbh Mela.
According to a 2013 study, 79 per cent of all stampedes in India have occurred at religious gatherings and pilgrimages. The same study compiled National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) statistics and found that 1,823 people died as a result of human stampedes between 2000 and 2012. Some recent incidents include Tirupati Temple stampede (January 8, 2025, resulting in six deaths), Kumbh Mela stampede (January 29, resulting in 30 deaths).
India and Saudi Arabia (particularly due to the Haj pilgrimage) have recorded the highest reported number of stampedes. As India’s population and the per capita income grow, more people will travel for work, vacation, and pilgrimage. During the festive season in India, particularly around major festivals like Diwali, Eid, and Durga Puja, it is estimated that 100-150 million people travel across the country.
The Railways, being cheap and convenient, becomes the default choice for travellers. In the absence of efficient crowd control measures, unfortunate incidents like the one at New Delhi Railway Station may recur.
The recommendations
We provide six such recommendations that can help in decongesting the Railways.
Limit the sale of unreserved tickets: Unreserved tickets are issued for a destination and not for a specific train. There is no cap on the number of such tickets that can be sold. Consequently, the number of unreserved tickets sold is much higher than the capacity of the railway infrastructure.
Holding zones: To manage crowds, waiting areas can be set up outside the train stations. These waiting areas can prevent travellers from staying on platforms for extended periods. The platform may be accessible to passengers only a few hours prior to the departure of their train. To implement this rule, tickets will have to be checked at the gates of the railway stations. Most South-East Asian nations, including China, follow this rule.
Using AI to monitor crowd behaviour: The video footage from the CCTV cameras can be fed to AI to monitor the density of the crowd. An alarm may be raised before the crowd density goes beyond acceptable levels. According to scientific literature on human stampedes, a crowd of two people per square metre is considered dense, while four people per square metre is considered very dense. A stampede could occur above crowd density of 5.26 people per square metre. AI can also be used to monitor the flow of the crowd. AI can alert railway authorities as soon as crowd turbulence starts.
Structural flaws: Avoiding obstacles and narrow passages is important in mass gathering events. Railway authorities should concentrate on designing stations that allow people to move more quickly and disperse easily in the case of an emergency. All railway stations should be scanned to identify and remove such flaws.
Communication: One of the many factors that contributed to the stampede at Delhi Railway Station was the confusion between Prayagraj Special and Prayagraj Express. Ambiguous communication must be avoided. The assumption that people panic and behave irrationally during emergencies has also been refuted by recent studies on disaster management. With this false assumption, the authorities withhold valuable information from the public and treat them as a nuisance. Using clear communication to engage and collaborate with the public can limit disastrous incidents.
Database of incidents: The lack of a comprehensive database of all information related to stampedes limits scientific studies of these tragic incidents. India, being one of the most stampede-prone countries in the world, stands to gain significantly from such a database.
The writers are with School of Management, Mahindra University
