Western Railway Plans 20+ Contract Staff At Busy Stations To Manage Crowds And AC Local Delays

Mumbai's Western Railway is set to bring in 20 or more contract workers to each of its busiest suburban stations to manage peak-hour crowds. Around 10 staff members will be stationed at less-crowded stations. These teams will concentrate on crowd movement, platform safety, and ensuring Automatic local train doors close on schedule, aiming to cut down unnecessary delays on the network.

The teams will be primarily deployed at busy stations like Dadar, Andheri, Santacruz, Borivali, Virar, and Nalasopara. Their tasks will include regulating passenger movement, preventing crowding on platforms, foot overbridges, and staircases, and providing assistance during emergencies. The primary focus will be the times immediately before and after trains arrive and depart, when passenger movement is especially heavy.

The railway officials link this deployment to the punctuality of AC local services, as overcrowding near automatic doors often prevents them from closing on time, causing trains to linger at stations longer than planned. Railway officials believe that even a few seconds saved at multiple stations could prevent a domino effect of delays.

The personnel will be hired on a contract basis, with departmental approval already obtained. The busiest stations will have 20 or more staff, while stations with lower passenger traffic will get around 10 personnel. This move is significant as the railway's existing security personnel are often pulled in various directions, managing passenger safety, crowd control, and security-related duties.

By creating dedicated teams for crowd control, Western Railway aims to improve passenger movement at key stations while allowing its security staff to focus on their main responsibilities. The deployment is expected to be rolled out soon, with the railway administration currently working on the next steps.