Bandra Terminus stampede: What led to the chaos and casualties?

The platform at Bandra Terminus a few hours after the stampede occurred on Sunday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Ten people were injured when a giant crowd attempted to board the Gorakhpur-bound unreserved 22-coach Antyodaya Express train at Bandra Terminus around 2.55 am on Sunday. The pandemonium unfolded as the train was being berthed on platform 1, which is aligned with the road and is porous i.e. even those without valid tickets are able to easily enter.

While the disaster control room of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) stated that nine had been injured, the Western Railway (WR) took seven hours to issue its first update, mentioning the number of injured as two. Railway officials later said only two victims were found to be in possession of valid tickets.

Abandoned footwear belonging to those who had tried to board the train while it was being berthed on platform 1. Pic/Rajendra B. Aklekar; (right) Riot police patrol the terminus on Sunday in the wake of the mishap. Pic/Anurag Ahire

A similar incident was reported at Surat last year during Diwali and Chhath Puja eve where one person was killed and several had been injured while getting onboard a Bhagalpur-bound train.

The stampede

According to eyewitnesses, hordes gathered at Bandra Terminus platform 1 on Saturday night and Sunday morning to catch the 22921 Bandra-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express, which departs Bandra at 5.10 am. The incident occurred as the train entered the platform at 2.55 am. Rough estimates stated that a crowd of nearly 5,000 had gathered to board this train, which is completely unreserved, as an earlier scheduled train had been 16 hours late.

Platform 1 at Bandra Terminus a few hours after the stampede occurred on Sunday. Pics/Anurag Ahire

Ironically, the berthing of the Antodaya Express on platform 1 had been reportedly delayed by ten minutes due to the fact that the doors of the train were being locked to avoid such an incident.

As the train was being backed from the yard to the platform, the crowd broke loose and tried to get into the reversing train. "The train was entering the platform at a speed of less than 5 kmph and the doors of coaches were locked. The crowd standing on the platform, which was being managed by a handful of cops and railway officials, got loose and charged towards the train. People started hanging to the doors. It is not clear, but some doors might have been opened by force, leading to more crowding at those points and eventually a stampede," an official said.

The injured were shifted to Bandra's Bhabha hospital. While some were later discharged, others were shifted to private hospitals and seriously injured patients were shifted to KEM hospital.

Faster train preferred

Railway officials said that Antyodaya was preferred because it was an unreserved completely vestibuled special train with 22 coaches and tickets for this particular train were a bit more expensive than a regular unreserved ticket (R540 for Antyodaya and 450 for regular unreserved) as it was "faster." It completed the journey in 34 hours as compared to other trains on the same route which took 40 hours. "The train had a seating capacity of 2,100 seating passengers, but usually it ferries 3,000 and above. For this particular train, about 2,540 tickets were sold," a divisional official said.

Political fallout

Following the incident, members of the Opposition took to social media to slam the Union Railway Ministry. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray tweeted, "Wish the reel minister was a rail minister for once. The incident at Bandra only reflects how incapable the current railways minister is. The BJP has made Ashwini Vaishnav-ji, a prabhari [in-charge] for BJP Maharashtra for elections, but every week there are some incidents and accidents that occur with the Railways. Such a shame that our country has been forced under such incapable ministers."

Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad tweeted, "This is alarming. A stampede-like situation at Bandra Terminus while passengers tried to board a Gorakhpur-bound train. Nine people injured! The railways must take immediate measures to improve passenger management at their terminals, especially during festival seasons when many travel. @AshwiniVaishnaw ji I had raised the issue of lack of facilities at long-distance train stations in Mumbai in the Parliament too and had written to you regarding the same. This kind of apathy and negligence cannot continue. #Bandra #stampede #Railways"

The National spokesperson of NCP's Sharad Pawar faction, Clyde Crasto, said, "Stampede at Bandra Terminus while people boarding the Bandra-Gorakhpur Express shows yet another failure of the Railways Ministry and Reel (sic) Minister Ashwini Vaishnav. Lack of enough trains during the festive season and also failure of the local administration have led to this mishap."

Minister of state says

Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu said, "I am in the know of the incident in Bandra. The cause is not known yet. We will be conducting a probe and the reason for the incident will be found soon."

The Mumbai Government Railway Police (GRP) said they, too, would investigate the matter.

2,540
No. of people who had bought tickets for train