Mumbai Local trains

The local train network in Mumbai is rightly known as the 'Life-Line' of Mumbai.It is by no doubt an established fact that the trains are the best means of transport within any part of the suburbs.

Every day thousands of people use this travel option to reach their work place and back. During the peak hours the trains are packed to an extent that if you are not regular train traveller you will just stand at the station watching the "show" while others trying their life's best to get a foot's place inside the compartment.(I happen to be one! That is when I stepped back and could think of nothing but to click this pic.) Only some will succeed and only they will know how. For those brave few who managed to squeeze in, the fight doesnt end there. In scientific terms, the density of people inside the compartment is so much that at a time you are stickingly surrounded by atleast 6-8 people,if not more. Some stinky, some sweaty, but you dont have a choice. You struggle to move inside but you realize that it is not a one player's game but a team effort. So, you request people around you to twist their body parts wherever they are encountered and thus make a way. The train moves on. If you are not a frequent traveller you will never know which station is about to arrive. Your only help is fellows around. With the anouncement system facility provided in the newly built trains this problem is addressed but the major issue still remains is the space!

The important message here is that none of the government's act in the railways have helped solve this situation. There are indeed some rise in the number of trains, some new railways tracks here and there but unfortunately none of these have helped to give the daily traveller his best time onboard. Definitely, there is a planned move in initiaties like Metro rails to reduce the load on the existing local trains but even this venture, like others, is slow at speed. Today, it is next to impossible to travel with our grand parents or little ones in trains.