Overview

• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament that a fallen headload on the stairs of Foot Over Bridge 3 at platforms 14 and 15 triggered the February 15 accident that killed 18 and injured 15
• At 8:48 pm the dropped load caused passengers to trip and fall in a high-density crowd, overturning earlier descriptions of the event as a mass stampede
• A high-level inquiry cited a steady rise in passenger density after 8:15 pm and widespread carrying of heavy headloads that impeded movement on the narrow foot overbridge
• Indian Railways has paid ₹10 lakh to each family of the deceased, ₹2.5 lakh to the grievously injured and ₹1 lakh to those with minor injuries, totaling ₹2.01 crore for 33 victims
• The ministry is implementing permanent holding zones, ticket-based access controls, wider foot overbridges, war rooms and enhanced CCTV networks across 73 major stations to prevent future crowd surges