A major reason for the stampede at New Delhi railway station on Saturday may be poor quality of public address system. The Railway Ministry has admitted that due to the wrong declaration of two trains, there was confusion among the passengers, causing this accident. According to the Railway Ministry, when the arrival of the Prayagraj Special train on platform number 12 was announced on Saturday, the passengers of Prayagraj Express parked on platform number 14 considered it their train and reached there. There was a stampede in this chaos, in which at least 18 people died and dozens of people were injured.
Former railway chief and telecom engineer K.P. Arya said, “If the announcement had been made correctly and the passengers were clearly told that the Prayagraj Special and Prayagraj Express were two separate trains, then this accident could have been avoided.” He suggested that the railways should use the automatic announcement system as well as manual declaration options. He said that the clarity of the voice should be checked with a equipment like decibel meter, not only with ears.
Announcement system bad at railway stations
According to officials, the quality of the announcement system at small stations is very poor, due to which passengers often do not understand what is being said in the announcement. A retired railway safety officer said, ‘Many times we had to go close to loudspeakers to hear the announcement. When such a wrong declaration can cause such a big accident, then the Railways should now focus on this issue.
K.P. Arya said that the announcement system of the railway station in Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh is also in a very poor condition. He said, ‘Ask any passenger, you will get this feedback. If the platform of your train is suddenly replaced, it is like a bad dream.
What did the railway employees say?
According to station masters, earlier announcements were manually made, but now the automatic announcement system is used, in which employees only have to enter the train or platform number system. However, if there is a malfunction in the system, then a manual announcement is made.
Railway officials and experts believe that the stampede at New Delhi railway station highlights the weaknesses of the railway’s announcement system. Now the time has come for the railway to improve this system so that such accidents can be prevented in future.
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