The Trains of Mumbai
Its Spinal Chord
What comes to your mind if you come across the words Mumbai Local Train.
Well, the images below will help you stimulate your imagination.
A major railway station at its peak capacity.
People inside, outside, over, sideways and thankfully, not under!
Helping themselves board a running train which is not even at a platform.
Another view of the maddening crowd.
So let us see how the chaotic system works and what causes the millions of people to use it in spite of the crowd.
I have been using this 'mass human moving machine' which we Mumbaikars have gleefully called 'Trains', for two years now. I have also travelled the length and breadth of Mumbai in any and all forms of transport possible.
How many people travel in our Trains?
According to a report by Dr. Aditi Abhyankar, 88% of the population of the city travels in the trains at least 10 times a week. Although the daily number of people using these trains is highly variable, we can safely assume that the trains carry over 100,000 people daily over a stretch of about 60 kilometres.
Why do the people travel like cattle?
The images of the crowd might be baffling to an international audience, but we Mumbaikars love to travel in a train. It does have a lot of benefits if you can manage to hide away your wallet and cell phone. Since you are surrounded by people all over, you get a cushioning effect from all over. You can NEVER trip or fall once you are inside the crammed space. You just don't have the space to fall. Go more than a few inches on any side and you will find a person standing and frowning angrily on you because you fell on him, but in that case, because of him, you will, at least not fall.
Who travels?
Well I have a personal experience of having seen successful businessmen travel along shoulder to shoulder with a sweeper. The demographic of the people using this boon of a service is rather astonishing. Majority of the people travelling in the trains can afford a much safer and comfortable option. So why do they still chose train over an AC car?
TIME!
In Mumbai, Time is money and a train saves time. So a multimillionaire will also preferably use train if he wants to get somewhere fast.
This ends my very first blog. The Trains of Mumbai. Please comment on how I did.
