A stampede at the New Delhi railway station led to 18 deaths and injured many on the night of February 15 as pilgrims rushed to board trains to Prayagraj, where the Maha Kumbh Mela is underway, and beyond.

While an official inquiry is underway, several factors appear to have led to the crush.

One, at least 2,600 extra tickets were sold in the two hours before the stampede which led to overcrowding. Second, a Scroll analysis found that at least 15 trains, including some headed towards Prayagraj, were delayed in the two-hour window before the stampede, intensifying the crowding at the station and its platforms.

Finally, station officials announced a special train to Prayagraj for pilgrims and then suddenly changed the platform from where it would depart, leading to a panicked rush.

Could such a stampede have been avoided? What could the railways do better?

We put the questions to Sarabjit Singh, a former general manager of Indian railways’ Central Organisation for Modernisation Workshops from 2000 to 2003 and a member of the Central Administrative Tribunal. He has worked with the railways for 37 years, mainly in the northern and south eastern zone. Here is what he had to say:

The Delhi High Court has questioned why the railway authorities sold 2,600 extra general class tickets in the hours before the stampede. What is the logic for selling extra tickets?

It is a legacy. It allows people to buy tickets at the last moment and find a place to sit in general class coaches. It worked quite well in the past.

Today, there is a mismatch between the demand and the available seats. Railway authorities need to estimate the possible demand for general class seats, especially during festive season. This is an area where they have not looked at yet.

General class tickets are sold at multiple points – at the [reservation] counter, and online. And there is no limit on how many can be sold. This is a systemic issue that we need to address.

Can’t the number of unreserved seats on sale be limited?

Perhaps, what can be done is to increase general unreserved compartments since the demand for unreserved tickets has gone up. So the old system that the railways is following needs to be revamped and relooked at. This incident is the opportunity to do something new.

How can knowledge of the sale of extra general class tickets help railways prepare better for such situations?

You have to look at this differently based on different railway stations. Railway stations work to a certain capacity. The New Delhi station works to a capacity of 5 lakh people every day, Chhatrapati Shivaji station in Mumbai nearly has 10 lakh people visiting it in a day. These stations are used to handling such numbers. But when you have a festive season and when the footfall shoots, say from 5 lakh to 7 lakh-8 lakh in Delhi, then the railway station does not have the capacity to handle such a large crowd.

But [if you can estimate the demand for] extra general class tickets, the rail officials could shift the load to other satellite stations around Delhi. That means arrangements have to be made, estimating the peaks.

Is there a certain protocol that railways follows during the festive season?

Yes, they have a protocol. We try to divert peak crowds to different stations. For example, in Allahabad [now Prayagraj], where the Kumbh Mela is held, Indian railways makes use of satellite stations like Phaphamau around the main station.

In Delhi, the crowd could have been diverted to Subzi Mandi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations there to take the load off the New Delhi station. I don’t know if that was done. Authorities also create holding areas for people in satellite stations and bring trains there.

There appears to be a lot of frustration with rail travel during the Kumbh Mela. There are videos of people throwing stones at windows, and many complaints of overcrowding inside the compartments.

Well, stone pelting is just plain vandalism. There is frustration, yes, because capacity has not kept pace with the demand. The fares are low and everyone wants to take the train.

Reaching the station is also frustrating. The roads leading to New Delhi station are congested. If we increase a station’s capacity and footfall, we also need to improve access to it.

Have there been stampedes when you were working with the railways? How were they tackled?

Yes, there was a similar stampede in the northern railways in 2004. The platform had suddenly changed for a train and people ran and slipped on the footover bridge. There were only two footover bridges in Delhi railway station. After the stampede, a third footover bridge was constructed. It was during Chhath Puja season.

Do remember that railways is used to handling large crowds during a festive season. They do it each and every year. But sometimes the system gets overwhelmed.

What are the lessons learnt?

We have to modernise, put more money into it rather than just beautify stations.

We do have the money to spend on railways. But the railways has to get more integrated with town planning and development of the area around the station. The more development, the more footfall a station in that area will receive.

The railways has to work in coordination with town development. For example, decongest roads leading to railway stations, expand capacity based on the rising population around a station. And we need to bring in artificial intelligence [to estimate crowd peaks and monitor railway platforms].

The railways was built in the 19th century and we are in the 21st. We still follow the legacy of the 19th century. We need to revamp.

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Here is a summary of the week’s top stories.

Trump’s claims and the fallout. The United States government’s alleged $21 million funding “for voter turnout” was for Bangladesh, not India, The Indian Express reported on Friday citing federal spending records.

On February 16, the US Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, revoked several USAID grants, including the alleged $21 million for India. This was part of $486 million in grants to the nonprofit Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening, which supports elections and political transitions globally.

However, the newspaper reported citing federal expenditure data that no CEPPS project had been funded by the USAID in India since 2008.

This came after President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he “guessed” that the previous US administration was “trying to get somebody else elected” in India by having allegedly funded the programme.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Malviya claimed that the funding was “external interference” and linked it to Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist George Soros. India’s ruling party has repeatedly accused Soros of conspiring with the Opposition Congress to destabilise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

On Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the allegations made by the Trump administration were “deeply troubling” and lead to concerns about “foreign interference” in India’s internal affairs. Government departments and agencies were looking into the matter, the ministry said.

Relief and reprimand for podcaster. The Supreme Court protected YouTuber and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia from arrest in first information reports that have been filed against him in Maharashtra, Assam and Rajasthan for making an explicit remark insinuating incest on a comedy talent show. The court also barred further cases on the matter but directed Allahbadia not to participate in any new shows until further orders.

Allahbadia, known for hosting the BeerBiceps podcast, made the remarks on an episode of India’s Got Latent, which was later taken down by YouTube following a government complaint.

However, the court criticised his language, stating, “The words you have chosen, parents will feel ashamed.” It directed him to cooperate with the investigation and submit his passport to the police.

“The entire society will be ashamed,” the court added. “These are the levels of depravity you and your henchmen have gone to. Rule of law and system has to be followed. He should be ashamed as to what he has done to his parents.”

In last week’s Slow Lane edition, Tabassum Barnagarwala explained why the BJP was going after its own cheerleader – ‘BeerBiceps’.

Delhi’s new government. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rekha Gupta took oath as Delhi’s chief minister, becoming the party’s first chief minister in the national capital in 26 years. The Hindutva party won 48 seats in the 70-member Assembly in the polls held on February 5.

Six other BJP MLAs including Parvesh Verma and Kapil Mishra were sworn in as ministers.

Ayush Tiwari explains how the Congress cost AAP a majority in Delhi.

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