Indian railway minister Piyush Goyal has said the department will change a 150-year-old convention as it reviews safety following the Mumbai stampede.
On September 29, 22 were left dead and more than 30 injured when a stampede broke out on a footbridge at Elphinstone station, Mumbai.
Chairing a meeting the day after the incident, Goyal said that safety will be accorded the highest priority and that all footbridges will become mandatory for safety – rather than the previous ruling that the first would be essential and subsequent footbridges were considered amenities.
Like this story? Click here to make a free subscription to one of our publications
In addition, decisions were made to: grant railway zone general managers unlimited delegated powers to deal with safety-related issues for 18 months; install escalators at Mumbai stations with high footfall; deploy 200 officers from headquarters into the field and 75 station directors; and install CCTV cameras in all suburban trains in Mumbai.
