CASE STUDY: MUMBAI LOCAL TRAINS
Submitted by-
Ayush P Gupta (14113031)
Avinash Kumar(14113028)
INTRODUCTION:
We all live in a society and to survive, interdependence on others is important. Exchange of
commodities and services all require a medium of transportation. Travelling is thus
mandatory and in any large, densely populated urban area like Mumbai, the roads cannot
serve large numbers of travellers, especially at peak hours of travel and hence was born
Mumbai Suburban Trains. The local people depends on local trains for their bread and butter
and services like software firms, business firms, banks, businesses and other services rely on
railways. Even a single day stoppage will lead to heavy losses on individual and commercial
basis. Thus we can say, it’s rightly said as MUMBAI’S LIFELINE.
HISTORY:
The first local train ran between Bori Bunder (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and Thane,
a distance of 34 km, on 16 April 1853. The 14-coach train took 1.25 hr to complete the 34 km
journey.
CHARACTERSTICS:
The Mumbai Suburban Railway system is operated by Indian Railways zonal divisions
Western Railways (WR) and Central Railways (CR). WR operates the Western Line and CR
operates the Central Line, Harbour Line, and Trans-Harbour. The Local train system are run by
EMU (Electric Multiple Units) and consists of 9, 12, 15 coach rakes. To alleviate the
problems of overcrowding, the 9 coach trains were phased out and on 12 November 2007, the
first of 129 new 12-coach rakes with upgraded facilities was inducted into the fleet of the
Western Railways. 15-coach trains were introduced on 21 November 2009.
FACTS:
All routes are electrified using 25 kV 50 Hz AC power supply from overhead lines.
Ticker Fair is quite low i.e. travelling a distance of about 120 km, requires an amount
less than 35-40 rupees.
The suburban railway in Mumbai carries around 2.2 billion passengers every year.
The local trains move regularly between all major and minor stations in Mumbai in 4-
5 minutes’ interval. There’s a gap of around 3 to 4 hours between the last train of the
day and the first train of the next day.
It is the only local trains in India with a “first” class compartment.
The coaches are built of stainless steel, and have non-cushioned seats, emergency
fluorescent lights, bigger windows with polycarbonate panes, better suspension
systems, roof mounted forced ventilation to reduce carbon dioxide levels in packed
trains, and GPS based passenger information systems in all coaches.
Since 2010 the front of the EMUs are painted yellow.
Different types of compartments includes: general compartment, general first class,
ladies' compartment, ladies first class, handicap and cancer patients compartment,
senior citizens component, luggage compartment.
DARK SIDES OF MUMBAI LOCAL TRAINS:
One of the biggest problems is that of over-crowding.
At the railway station, sufficient number of ticket windows, toilets particularly for the
ladies travellers, sufficient eating and resting provisions are lacking.
During the heavy rainy season, water logging, delay in trains, etc. affects the
passengers a lot.
Over-crowding, illegal crossing the railway tracks, standing on the doors of the
compartments, leads to a lot of accidents during the crowded hours.
Occasionally the indicators on the platforms do not function properly and it results in
a lot of inconvenience to the passengers.
As around 22 million passengers travel daily and hence it becomes very difficult to
put a check on ticketless travellers and the government loses a considerable part of
their income.
Lack of ventilation is a major problem in Mumbai local trains. During peak periods,
CO2 level inside the coaches is as high as 2,500 ppm, which makes passengers,
suffocate.
Local Trains do not run smoothly and sometimes passengers experience jerks
especially during journey.
Insufficient lightening levels inside the coaches make it difficult for commuters to
read during their journey.
Use of DC series motors and cumbersome design of bogies and traction equipment
lead to the need for excessive maintenance.
The large number of standing passengers blocks the doors and windows of the train,
also leads to accidents.
TERRORIST ACTIVITIES IN PAST:
The Mumbai Local train has also experienced some terrorist activities in the past and has
suffered 8 blasts and around 368 people are believed to have died. They are as follows:
12 March 1993 – bomb blast at Reay Road station
13 March 2003 – A bombing in a train in Mulund killed 20
11 July 2006 – A series of seven bombs in trains killed 209
26 November 2008 – Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was attacked during the 2008
Mumbai Attacks killing at least 60 people.
(Source: Wikipedia)
ACCIDENTS IN LOCAL TRAINS:
An average of nine persons loses their lives daily due to accidents, suicides or natural deaths
while moving in suburban Mumbai Railway.
‘The number of injured was 2,062 on the Central Railway and 1,237 on the Western Railway,
the total of which comes to 3,299 in 2014’
Maximum number of passengers lost their lives while crossing railway tracks - 1,912
followed by passengers falling from moving trains with 797 cases reported. About 34
passengers died due to fall in the gap between platform and trains while 11 died after being
hit by a pole. As many as 33 people have committed suicide. Hence a lot of people lost their
lives due to such reasons.
MEASURES TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS:
The train capacity needs to be strengthened, apart from creating awareness among the
passengers.
Need to build such types of infrastructure so that passengers do not cross the tracks.
The capacity and reliability of urban rail networks can be enhanced by the
introduction of high-capacity urban rail vehicles and the development of high-
performance urban rail infrastructure supported by new signalling devices.
IMPROVEMENT MEASURES TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT:
In 2012-2013, around INR 4,410 crore were allocated for capacity augmentation
works. An allocation of INR 1102 crore was meant for improving the passenger
amenities which was only Rs. 762 crore in the previous year 2011-2012 giving a
growth of around 30 per cent
The lighting inside the coaches has been improved to 300 lux from the present 120
lux (about 250%)
In place of wooden seats, polycarbonate seats have been provided in the general
coaches and seats with PU cushion have been provided in the First Class. Geographic
Positioning System (GPS) based passenger information system has been provided in
all the coaches.
Automatic announcement of approaching stations in three languages, i.e. English,
Hindi, and Marathi
Platform indicator
Emergency announcement
LED-based head code are installed
Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-II is
extending the Harbour Line up to Goregaon. The work is expected to be completed in
2016.(source: Wikipedia)
REFERENCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Suburban_Railway
http://topyaps.com/15-entertaining-amazing-facts-mumbai-local-trains
http://www.vikalpa.com/pdf/articles/2011/Vik361-05Note_Comments.pdf
http://blog.socialcops.com/open-data/mumbai-local-trains
http://sibresearch.org/uploads/2/7/9/9/2799227/riber2012-229_291-302.pdf
