GRP personnel are on their toes for hours daily to control the unending flood of passengers arriving and leaving platforms 1 and 2 at Dadar station, which is too narrow
Like applying band-aid on a fractured arm, railway police have cordoned off the unusually narrow platform 1 at Dadar, even as the problem calls for major structural changes. Pic/Ashish Raje
As trains enter and exit the Dadar railway station (central), crowds swell on the island platform of 1 and 2, keeping GRP personnel on their toes. And the reasons are--an extremely narrow platform and passengers rushing down to catch a train. The GRP says the problem persists even after they suggested a solution, which the railways tried successfully.
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For the past few years, the Government Railway Police (GRP) have been blocking the first few metres of the platform, starting at the staircase landing. This is aimed at preventing hurrying passengers from running to board the train, a habit that has caused at least five deaths between 2016 and 2020. More than 30 passengers were also injured after falling off the platform at this spot during the same period.
The narrow platform
According to GRP officials, the ideal width of a platform should be 75 feet, but the island platform in question is just 25-foot wide. When trains on both platform nos. 1 and 2 arrive at the same time, the crowd becomes unmanageable. The GRP personnel prevent stampede-like situations every day, giving only one-way access to a portion of the platform.
A GRP jawan stops a passenger from crossing the blockade, on platform No. 1 of Dadar railway station, on Thursday. Pic/Ashish Raje
“Every day, about 10 GRP personnel are stationed at the spot, from 2 pm till late evening, to prevent passengers from entering platform No. 1 right after getting off the staircase,” GRP Senior Inspector (Central Railway) Smita Dhakne told mid-day. The GRP declared this island platform an accident-prone zone in 2021 and wrote several letters to the railways to address their concern.
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“We still don’t have a solution. It is very difficult to handle the crowd here. The platform is too narrow. Many trains terminate on platform No. 2, which makes the situation even worse when another halts at platform No. 1 at the same time. The railways should terminate platform No. 2’s trains at Parel instead.
“Railway officials conducted trials on December 5 and 6 on our suggestion. Instead of ending the trip at platform No. 2 at Dadar, the train was halted at Parel station. On these two days, the crowd was less and manageable. However, this was never implemented for good,” Dhakne said. “There have been times when we had to close the platform because of overcrowding. We are trying our best to save lives. We have sent a letter to railway officials, stating that they are solely responsible if there is a stampede or any untoward incident at this spot,” Dhakne added.
Around 1985, when the station was being upgraded and the railways planned to terminate slow locals at Dadar, platform No. 1 was built in a small available space. Since then, all the slow trains on the line have used this platform. Post 2005, when the 12-metre foot overbridge was widened and given a landing at this platform, the crowd increased manifold, since it was the main bridge of the station.
Passengers who descended on the platform gathered right at the entry of the staircase to catch their train. When a few commuters died while trying to catch a speeding train leaving platform No. 1, the railways decided to move the halt point ahead and deployed GRP to control the crowd. mid-day had requested the divisional railway manager, when he joined office in November, to explore the possibility of widening the platform, since he had moved a similar proposal for other stations, but there has been no response yet.
A Central Railway spokesperson said, “Earlier, we deployed the GRP personnel at this spot, but now a rope arrangement has been made to protect the passengers. The width of this platform is narrow and we are finding a permanent solution.”
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No of GRP personnel stationed at the spot daily
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