Railways borrow Mahakumbh lessons to manage festive rush, but chaos persists inside trains

Drawing from its experience of handling massive crowds during the Mahakumbh, the North Eastern Railway (NER) rolled out an elaborate crowd management plan this festive season to tackle the Diwali-Chhath rush across the Lucknow Division. Between October 15 and November 5, nearly one to two crore passengers were expected to travel through the stretch, one of the busiest in the country, connecting Lucknow to Gorakhpur, Bihar, West Bengal and the North-East.

To handle the surge, officials adopted the “Mahakumbh model” of crowd control, focusing on better passenger flow and safer waiting zones. At Gorakhpur, five large holding areas were created, each accommodating around 5,000 passengers. These spaces were fitted with bedding, fans, toilets, drinking water and free snacks to make long waits more manageable. Around 30 to 45 additional trains were operated daily, digital display boards were installed for real-time updates, and mobile ticket counters were set up to ease queues.

Platform allocation was also reorganised, trains starting or ending at key stations were placed at end platforms to reduce pressure on foot-overbridges, a frequent crowd bottleneck. To prioritise passenger trains, freight services were temporarily cut back. Nearly 15,000 railway personnel were deployed to regulate flow and maintain order. Officials said these measures were designed to ensure smooth, safe movement for the festive rush.

Yet, what unfolded inside the trains was far from orderly. Despite the elaborate planning, thousands of passengers were forced to travel in inhumanly cramped conditions. General compartments overflowed far beyond capacity, and even sleeper coaches became standing rooms. Passengers squeezed into washrooms, sat on the floor near toilets, or clung to doors through hours-long journeys. Families with children and elderly travellers bore the worst of the ordeal.

Scenes from stations such as Gorakhpur, Mau and Basti showed people climbing through windows and hanging on to doors just to secure space. On social media, images of overcrowded coaches went viral, prompting criticism that while the Railways managed crowds outside, it failed to ensure safety and dignity inside. Even passengers with confirmed tickets struggled to find a place to sit, revealing the limits of the so-called Mahakumbh model.

Officials argue that while infrastructure and capacity remain major constraints, passengers themselves share part of the responsibility. Many travellers ignored queues, bypassed ticketing systems, or forced their way into reserved coaches, worsening the chaos. “We took every possible step to maintain order,” said a senior railway staffer in Gorakhpur, “but civic sense is something no plan can enforce. People need to cooperate too.”

In many ways, this year’s operation can be called a controlled success . The Railways avoided disaster, but not discomfort. The system managed movement, but not the experience. Overcrowded trains, poor sanitation and public impatience exposed the gap between crowd control and commuter care.

As millions continue their homeward journeys for Diwali and Chhath, the challenge for Indian Railways remains twofold, to expand capacity and to nurture civic discipline. Until both align, the annual festive rush will continue to be less of a celebration and more of a struggle for space.