Elphinstone Road station stampede: Piyush Goyal discusses mandatory FOBs, CCTV installation in Railway Board meet

He said, "We are turning a 150 yr old convention on its head, hereafter, FOBs will be deemed mandatory not a passenger amenity." The meeting was held at the Western Railway’s headquarters at Churchgate, Mumbai.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: September 30, 2017 07:47 PM IST

2 min read

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(Source: Twitter/ @PiyushGoyal)

A day after the Elphinstone Road station stampede that claimed 23 lives and injured several others, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday convened a meet with Railway board officials where he said that foot-over-bridges (FOB) will be mandatory from hereafter and will cease to be a passenger amenity. He said, “We are turning a 150 yr old convention on its head, hereafter, FOBs will be deemed mandatory not a passenger amenity.” The meeting was held at the Western Railway’s headquarters at Churchgate, Mumbai.

For the convenience and safety of people, additional escalators have been sanctioned at crowded Mumbai suburban stations and also for all high traffic stations. The minister has also ordered that a total of 200 officers should be relocated from the Headquarters as field staff to strengthen the ground operations and also for the project implementation.

Goyal further said that to eliminate the delays, the General Managers have been ’empowered to spend whatever is necessary on safety’.

He said, “To eliminate bureaucracy and delays, I have empowered GMs to spend whatever is necessary on safety. Additional escalators sanctioned at crowded Mumbai suburban stations and thereafter for all high traffic stations. 200 officers to be relocated from Head Quarters as field staff to strengthen ground operations and project implementation.”

Taking a time period of 15 months, Goyal said that CCTV cameras will be installed in all suburban trains in Mumbai with a monitoring mechanism. The same work will also be done parallelly across the country. He said, “Within the next 15 months, CCTV cameras in all suburban trains in Mumbai with monitoring mechanism. Parallel work across India.”

At least 23 people died and 38 were injured in the stampede that took place on Friday on a narrow foot-over-bridge (FoB) that connects the Elphinstone Road on the Western Railway to Parel on the Central line.

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