Guntur Railway Operates Control Room to Manage Diwali Crowd

Vijayawada:The Guntur railway division has said it handled the huge Diwali rush smoothly by opening a special control room and better crowd management, keeping passengers safe during the festival.

It said, “To control the large number of travelers, the railway set up a control room that worked day and night. Senior officers took turns to keep a constant watch and solved problems quickly. The control room’s CCTV cameras worked all 24 hours to watch platforms, common areas and entry-exit gates at the station.

An important part of the plan was connecting the Rail Madad complaint system directly to the control room. “The railway handled passenger complaints well during Diwali. Last year, in October 2024, we solved 963 complaints in an average of 11 minutes, getting a Good rating.”

This year, until October 20, the railway received 554 complaints and solved them in an average of 28 minutes, keeping up the Good rating. The RPF did excellent work, solving complaints in less than two hours on average. They received an Excellent rating for their fast response.

On the busiest day, October 18, more than 42,500 passengers used Guntur station. To manage the crowd, the railway created four large waiting areas covering over 4,900 square meters. They opened extra exit gates on both sides of the station. They also closed parking on the east side and asked people to use the west side, which had more space.

The railway ran 40 extra trains on demand plus 140 regular trains through Guntur Station.

They added two more ticket counters and encouraged passengers to use ticket machines, mobile apps, and digital booking with helpers available to guide them.

Passenger facilities were improved—all seven lifts and five escalators worked properly. For food, they had 12 stalls, two multipurpose shops, one food plaza, two restaurants in coaches, and eight water machines. Extra staff was posted throughout the station to help passengers.