Holding areas, more staff and drones: Police, Railways devise crowd-control strategy for Surat, Udhna stations

Since Wednesday, the Udhna Railway Station has been experiencing a surge in crowds.

According to a press release issued by the Western Railway, many festival special trains will originate/terminate at Udhna station. As a crowd control measure, the halt of a few trains, which has been temporarily discontinued at Surat station due to ongoing station development works, has been restored, effective from October 10, until further notice, said Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Western Railway Vineet Abhishek.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Abhishek said, “This year, there will be around 470 trips of festive trains from Surat and Udhna stations to other destinations such as Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttarakhand. Apart from this, passing trains from the Mumbai division will have 574 trips, which will pass through Udhna and Surat and reach other destinations such as UP, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal. This year, we are running a record number of festive trains and trips compared to last year to meet the demand.”

“At Udhna station, the covered holding area available is 940.64 sqm near the west side entry, located on the southwest side of the station building, and a covered holding area of 1,113 sqm is available near the east side entry, opposite the station building, located on the northeast side. The holding areas have fans and illumination, seating arrangements, drinking water and toilet facilities, announcement system and extra ticketing counters. Additional 20 ticket checking staff and RPF personnel will also be deployed,” he said.

“At Surat station, the covered holding area available is 896 sqm near the west side entry, near the PRS office, located on the southwest side of the station building, and second covered holding area of 315 sqm is available near the east side entry, near the Porta cabin booking office, located on the northeast side, accommodating around 250 person.”

“The passengers holding area at Surat Railway station on the East side will be for 400 passengers, West 700 passengers, while at Udhna Railway station, it is 600 passengers at west, and 1,000 at the eastern area,” he added.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Surat City Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 2, Kanan Desai, said, “We have enhanced crowd management capacity after holding a meeting with railway officials. This time, we have secured enough space for passenger holding areas at both railway stations. Passengers, upon entering the railway campus, can wait in designated waiting areas. Later, with the assistance of the RPF and GRP, they will walk in queues to reach the platforms. We will be deploying two drone cameras at Udhna Station and two at Surat Station to monitor passenger movements.”

She further added, “The special festive trains for North Eastern States had been shifted to platform 6 at Udhna, which has holding areas to prevent any chaos. The CCTV cameras installed by the Railway and City police outside the railway stations have been checked. We have devised a bandobast scheme to help the police monitor passenger footfall. We have appealed to passengers to maintain peace at the railway stations. Medical facilities had also been set up for emergencies. The Railway security official will be at the holding areas inside the railway campus, and our teams will manage crowds outside the railway stations.”

“We have put up police bandobast on the entry and exit of both the railway stations. The GRP and RPF will also ensure strict security on the railway premises,” Desai added.

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