New Delhi: Panic and chaos broke out at Udhna railway station in Surat on Sunday as thousands of migrant workers broke queues and attempted to rush to board trains to leave city.
The incident occurred as the passengers tried to board a special train to Bihar scheduled for 11.15am. Some of them broke queue and climbed over barricades, triggering chaos at the entry gate. Several people including women and children suffered from suffocation, dehydration amid overcrowding and rising temperatures.
Unusually high crowd pressure
Police had to use mild lathicharge to disperse those attempting to breach barricades. Western Railway chief public relations officer (PRO) Vineet Abhishek acknowledged the crowd pressure was “unusually high” due to marriage season and summer vacations.
Massive Crowd Surge at Udhna Railway Station; 21,000 Passengers Depart for Northern Stateshttps://t.co/tUqJUHd9jZ pic.twitter.com/LWjwK1EHbe
— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) April 19, 2026
“We had announced trains in advance and implemented queue management with multiple holding areas. Around 23,000 passengers had gathered, and six trains were scheduled for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The disruption occurred when some unruly passengers tried to break the system, but the situation was brought under control swiftly,” Abhishek said while talking to TOI.
Several videos showing the overcrowded station and chaos went viral on social media. In on of the videos, a man can be heard saying, “Ab nhi aaunga. bata dena unhe (I won’t return. Tell them).”
West Asia war fallout?
Apart from summer vacation and marriage season, other reasons the migrant workers, mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, point out are LPG shortages and slowing industrial activity in the city owing to the war in West Asia.
Railway officials, while talking about the chaotic scenes, said several special services were added, additional staff deployed to manage the rush. Seven more ticket counters were set up to ease the ticket booking.
Passengers described the situation inside the train and at railway station as chaotic and far from “normal”. Some passengers said that they had to stand in lines for over 15 hours without food or water. Due to overcrowding many were forced to travel standing.
In an Economic Times report, one of the workers from Bihar’s Patna was quoted as saying that he was returning home due to “shortage of LPG” and reduced work at his industrial unit.
Work at industrial units decline
The migrants workers had earlier flagged the shortage of cooking gas, many were skipping meals or considered returning to home states till situation normalises.
Authorities asked the passengers to go back and wait for another announcement by the railways while acknowledging that the demand had exceeded available train capacity.
Udhna Railway station, Surat, Gujarat.pic.twitter.com/s4v3eaUwzA
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During the day situation improved as additional special trains were pressed into service.
Railways asks passengers not to rely on rumours
Meanwhile, Western Railway, in its official communication, reiterated that operations remained smooth and advised passengers not to rely on rumours.
“Contrary to such claims, multiple trains have departed as scheduled from Udhna for northern states today, including Udhna – Jaynagar Special and Madhubani Special. Passengers and the general public are advised to rely only on official communications issued by Railways,” the statement read.
Passenger condition was normal on Monday with Western Railways sharing visuals from the station.