New Delhi, October 18: With the festive season bringing record crowds to railway stations across India, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday visited the New Delhi Railway Station to personally assess passenger facilities and crowd management measures. His visit comes as thousands of passengers head home to celebrate Diwali and Chhath, creating one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The minister took a ground-level look at the station’s arrangements, including passenger waiting areas, ticket counters and crowd control zones. He interacted with commuters waiting on platforms and onboard trains, listening to their travel experiences and feedback on services. Vaishnaw also reviewed the working of the control room that monitors security through CCTV cameras across the station.
Officials briefed him about the special steps taken to handle the surge of more than 75,000 passengers at the station, including the expansion of waiting zones and deployment of additional staff for assistance. Vaishnaw praised the coordinated efforts of the railway team and urged them to maintain high standards of safety, cleanliness and punctuality during the festive rush.
He said, "Today, 75,000 passengers have arrived together at New Delhi Station. This holding area that was created, the Passenger Facilitation Center has many ticket counters in it, and it's a very well-ventilated area. People's coming and going is also happening in a very organized manner."
Vaishnaw claimed that today it was peak rush and praised the Indian Railways for preparing for the rush on war footing. He also said that the railways has done a commendable job to manage the festive rush. The huge crowd did not face any difficulties despite a huge number of passengers rushing at the railway station.
