The GRPF is toying with the idea of introducing a token system for passengers to occupy seats in unreserved railway compartments.
The idea has germinated from the office of Railways ADGP in the wake of a father falling onto the tracks in Erode and getting run over by the Mumbai Express while trying to board an unreserved compartment of the moving train and dying in front of his two children.
GRPF DSP V. Ponramu said that they are working out the modalities to introduce the token system.
“We will get in touch with railway officials and evolve an elaborate system shortly,” he said, conceding that ambiguity existed in whether to have more than one token issuing center as Chennai Central has multiple entry points.
At the outset, a token system for crowd management would be introduced for trains facing mad rush such as the Tirupathi Express, the Coimbatore-bound Inter City Express, Bangalore-bound Brindavan Express, Bengal-bound Howrah Express and New Delhi-bound GT Express and Allapey-Dhanbad Express.
GRPF officials said the system was meant not only to avoid stampede-like incidents but also to ensure hassle-free boarding of general coaches.
Another senior GRPF official pointed out that the demand for Howrah Express was not less than 1,200 people in an unreserved coach on any given day.
The official said that around 102 passengers could be seated in an unreserved coach, but the GRPF does not have powers to restrict entry of passengers over that number.
Divisional railway manager, Chennai, S. Anantharaman told Deccan Chronicle that GRPF officials are yet to get in touch with them.
Anantharaman said that the queue system was working well in managing crowds in general coaches of overcrowded trains, especially north-bound trains now, and added that they were open to any new idea for crowd management.