When Cattle-Packed Truck Makes Mumbai Suburban Train Travellers Jealous

A quick look at Usha Paradkar’s life of 59 years, of which she worked 36 years at Sion Hospital as a nurse, of which she spent a minimum of four hours every single day commuting from Badlapur to Sion, should give an idea of what is at stake. “One accepts it as one goes on working but there is no personal or family life. There were times when I had to jump from the train or I have crossed the railway tracks to catch a train but in that moment you are just trying to get to work. Those days we didn’t have mobile phones or anything and it is that much harder for women because of families waiting back home and other women-specific problems.” She doesn’t want to travel by train anymore and has avoided it completely since her retirement last year.

Several residents from Dombivli have been going two stations back to Kalyan to catch a train that takes him to CSMT (formerly CST, VT). This is a common practice on both the lines, where passengers travel backwards to some main station such as Virar, Bhyander, Kalyan or Thane to get place to sit for the onward southbound journey. It would add another 30-45 minutes to your travel. 

The intangible cost paid by citizens, when they are not just travelling, but struggling to travel and cope, is a matter of separate study. For example, traveling for two hours in an air-conditioned car, while sipping on water and listening to music and reading the day’s paper is infinitely different from spending every minute of those two hours on one foot or the other, running, jumping, screaming and sweating and holding on to your dear life.  

“We look at cities on three counts – living, which refers to living conditions such as access to open spaces, schools, hospitals etc, working, which refers amenities and opportunities related to work, and moving, which is about how do people transport themselves from living to working. Honestly speaking, we are struggling on all three counts in Mumbai. Each of this is fraught with serious issues,” says Pankaj Joshi, director Urban Design Research Institute.

Psychiatrist Dr. Harish Shetty wrote about the state of commuters’ mindset on his blog after 23 people died. He says, “… But in the din what has slipped from the minds of every one was that the city has been perpetually in a state of a chronic disaster syndrome. With disasters such as building collapses, floods, murders, suicides and terrorist attacks the mumbaikars are today extremely hyper-vigilant and hyper-aroused. From 1993 onwards the situation has worsened. A burgeoning city tearing from all sides needs urgent attention failing which many more such tragedies are waiting to happen…

Approximately 20 odd women also died after they jumped out of a running train from the ladies compartment in 1993 in Mumbai. They were run over by a running train on the adjacent track. Somebody said there was smoke in the compartment that was interpreted as a bomb about to explode. This followed after several days of the bomb blasts at multiple locations in the city by terrorists in 1993. Those who died had the story of the bomb blasts in their minds, the first of its kind that hit Mumbai. Startle, hypervigilance and a hyperaroused state killed them. In normal circumstances they would not have lost their judgment and jumped. 

… Yesterday at Elphinstone Bridge the same thing happened. It thundered and rained and the bridge was full of people. The roaring noise and probably someone uttered that the bridge was collapsing and the mayhem followed. Fresh after the recent floods, building collapses, murders, suicides, job losses, escalating prices and burdened by the angst of globalization the rational judgment collapsed. The lower middle class and the middle class in Mumbai travel in trains like animals. Completely dehumanized and numbed they run to make their two ends meet. The level of stress is high, rage is visible and the minds have an ultra short fuse.”

What the planning experts and psychiatrists feel is echoed by passengers and passenger associations. “For years and years it has been accepted that this is how people travel. It’s not about one incident. Every day people are struggling – sometimes the indicators are not working, sometimes the announcements are off, trains change platforms last minute making people scurry on foot over bridges. The authorities are trying to add services and upgrade but it is far from sufficient and everything is delayed,” says Kailash Verma, general secretary of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh. “After 2006-2007, nine foot over bridges were sanctioned. Still three are remaining. But somehow when something like this happens passengers are expected to show patience. That’s just unfair.”

Ask Girish who travels from Dombivli to Goregaon, an otherwise hellish commute relatively eased by office bus pick up from Thane or Kanjumarg. However, getting down at intermittent stations is a different battle altogether, like at Elphinstone Road.

"No matter where I get off, the bridges are a problem during peak hours. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to go from one platform to the other or the exit. These stations and amenities are meant for far lesser crowds. Just two weeks ago it took me 20 minutes at Goregaon FOB when it was raining and it was fully blocked.” He also adds that there is no time to study for further exams and prepare for further plans in career, let alone rest.  

However, there is no other cheaper or faster mode of transport for these citizens. At world’s cheapest fares and comprehensively faster than most arterial roads, highways, there is little choice for an average resident who is struggling to make ends meet. Increased jobs at different pockets in Mumbai such as the Bandra Kurla Complex, Malad, Chandivali, Powai. Moreover, residential concentration has shifted further north, because of unaffordable housing closer to work. (figures awaited)

“Travel patterns have undergone major changes on Western line because of shifting of office spaces and residential areas between Borivali and Virar. For example passenger traffic as increased at the three stations near the mill lands such as Elphinstone Road, Lower Parel and Mahalaxmi. There are plans to remodel the Parel yard and create space for more bridges but we also need a clear block of time for engineers to work. They don’t get more than three hours at night. Often we can’t bring cranes because the approach is so narrow. We are also running 15-car trains but it’s not sufficient because there are that many people using only the train,” says Ravindra Bhaker, Chief Public Relations Officer, Western Railway.

Not to mention the multiple agencies and government and civic bodies that should be involved or are responsible for various projects. For example, the connecting bridge between Elphinstone and Parel will be built by central and western railways – half and half. Also there is little understanding of passenger behavior in terms of access to transport such as share autos, taxis, bus stops and proximity to work places once people leave the station. At 9 am in the morning, no commuter will take an empty FOB which 400 metres away from the bus stop or taxi stand, which means unless further linkages are established, the efficacy will not be optimum.   

While there may be some truth in the saturation problem of the railways, the feeling that small measures are not taken to make travel bearable is palpable among commuters.

“So many small measures can be done. There are hawkers on all the bridges and subways. If they are providing wi-fi can they not alert citizens if there is a problem? The steps and tiles on sky walks and bridges come off,” says Sharma. “There is no shade on platforms – in rains commuters huddle under one patch at so many stations. None of these things require crores of rupees. People are only expecting a half-decent, safe travel, even if it is standing,” says another commuter.   

That ties up with research suggesting how little people of Mumbai expect from authorities. “When UDRI spoke to people during drafts of development plans were in process, they found that all the people wanted “is a place to stand” in trains, people also did not demand 24 hours water supply at homes, all they wanted was “one hour at the same time every day,” says Joshi who calls Mumbai a dysfunctional city. And it has perhaps been so for several years but the increased number of tragic accidents is finally being noticed.  

There is a well-known fable of a frog that is thrown into hot water jumps out but the one that is kept in normal water and the temperature is increased gradually, it remains inside and can no longer jump and dies. Surely, the city falls under the latter situation but what does a frog that knows there is nowhere to jump, do? Does it then offer a different ‘moral of the story’ for the rest of the people and cities to learn from?

However, none of this matters when grogged out bodies drag themselves at break-neck speed to catch the 7.13 am, 8.25 am,6.37 am trains, with a hurried, desperate prayer  - let not anyone pull the chain, let not anyone fall on the tracks, let the signal and over-head wires work - and it’s yet another glorious day in the lives of 70 lakh Mumbaikars.