Rain & Rumours Caused Elphinstone Tragedy, No Negligence: Railways

In the inquiry report submitted by Western Railways, authorities get a clean chit.

A victim’s sandal stuck on the fence of the Elphinstone station.

(Photo: AP)

The authorities have been given a clean chit on the Elphinstone stampede tragedy in an inquiry report submitted by the Western Railways (WR). On 29 September, 23 people were crushed to death in a stampede on the stairwell of a narrow foot over-bridge at the Elphinstone station in Mumbai.

The incident was caused due to panic and confusion created on the bridge coupled with rains. No one can be held responsible for the incident. 

Ravinder Bhaker, Chief Public Relations Officer, WR

The report places the blame squarely on the circumstances, saying that railway commuters, “unprepared for the rains”, gathered on the Elphinstone-Parel foot overbridge, using the bridge's roof to shelter themselves from the sudden rain.

Also Read: Can Never Forget The Horror I Saw: Elphinstone Stampede Survivor

Though the report does not talk about any delays in widening of the bridge despite previous sanctions, on the same day the Railways has set up a separate high-level committee led by former former Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) Pratyush Sinha to probe into the matter and submit a report within three months.

Report Claims Elphinstone Bridge Is 5 Meters Wide

The committee found that confusion between the words ‘phool’ and ‘pul’ resulted in the chaos. While the report does tangentially recommend widening of the staircase, it concludes that the rain caused people from outside to rush to the already crowded bridge, which triggered the incident.

According to India Today, the report explicitly said that “there was no structural damage to the FOB (foot overbridge) which can be attributed to the stampede”, while incorrectly noting the bridge was five meters wide. The Quint’s investigation into the width of the bridge revealed that it was only a little over 1.8 meters wide.

A lot of pushing amongst the crowd started when it started raining, which triggered the stampede. After people misheard something and started panicking, a girl slipped first, leading to people tumbling over each other. People started trying to jump off the bridge and trampling over others to escape. 

Senior WR Official 

A survivor, Shilpa Vishwakarma, who spoke to The Quint after the stampede, appeared in front of the panel to attest that in her understanding, and said the tragedy occurred when some commuters misheard the word ‘phool’ (‘flower’ in Hindi and Marathi) for ‘pul’ (‘bridge’ in Hindi and Marathi) and thought the bridge was collapsing. Chaos ensued and people, especially flower and fish vendors carrying heavy boxes and tokris, lost balance leading to the stampede.

The survivors who spoke to us said that the rumour was created all of a sudden. The people were unprepared for the rains. In seven to eight minutes, this rumour turned the situation into a stampede.

Ravinder Bhaker, Chief Public Relations Officer, WR

The report also makes some suggestions to avoid similar incidents at Elphinstone station. Some significant ones among them are:

• Installation of more and higher-quality CCTV cameras
• Giving access of the CCTV footage to the station master
• Removal of all encroachments
• Quicker mode of communication than mobiles to reduce official response time, such as wireless handsets
• Not allowing heavy luggage during peak hours
• Regulation of vendors during peak hours
• Deployment of Railway Protection Force (RPF) during peak hours
• Relocating the booking counter adjacent to the foot over-bridge and using the space to upgrade it
• Announcing heavy rainfall predictions by the BMC and Meteorological Department to avoid chaos

‘We Didn’t Ignore Any Warning Signs’: Railways

When asked what role Western Railways had to play in the tragedy, the CPRO said:

It’s not like we ignored warnings before the incident. [But] as of now teams at the station are not well equipped to handle a crisis. The infrastructure is inadequate. There are many reasons. The work is not happening at the rate it should [...] We get about two and a half hours block to work. It is becoming difficult to augment the rail infrastructure of the suburban network. A tender has been floated for a wider bridge, which the committee has also recommended. We will study all the recommendations by committee and implement most of the suggestions as early as possible. 

The enquiry panel recorded the statements of 30 survivors and studied the video footage of the stampede. Its report gives a pass to claims of poor infrastructure and alleged negligence by the authorities and also puts rest to rumours that a short circuit on the bridge led to panic.

Mumbaikars React to the Probe's Conclusion

Following the stampede, it came to light that commuters had been trying to bring the narrow bridge and the stampede-like condition at Elphinstone station for many years. A 2016 CAG report says that the minimum width of all bridges in the suburban network should be al least 6 meters; Elphinstone station’s FOB in question is less than two meters wide. A new bridge was approved by Suresh Prabhu last year, but a tender for it was not released until hours after the stampede had taken place.

It is not surprising then that daily commuters are not amused by the conclusion the Railways has reached, taking away all blame from the authorities.

Also Read: Mumbaikars Angry, 100 Old Tweets Warned of Elphinstone Stampede

Mumbai Police Also Gives Clean Chit to Railways

Earlier on 7 October, the Mumbai Police also came to the same conclusion in its investigation into the stampede. The rain and the sudden overcrowding of the station because of four trains simultaneously arriving at the station led to the deaths of the 23 victims, said its report.

The report gave a clean chit to the Railway Protection Force, the Government Railway Protection force, two booking clerks and the station master.

The police further asked the ticket booking staff to provide them with a rough estimate of the station’s footfall and even went on to ask the Meteorological Department for a confirmation that it rained at 10:26 am that day, when the stampede occurred.

Also Read: Post Elphinstone Stampede, Can We Trust Railways With Our Lives?