Train Maffia

Nothing anybody may tell you about the concept and process of travelling by train in Mumbai {much like many other experiences in India} can prepare you for the actual experience itself!

The London Underground in rush hour is tame by comparison. Consider the size and variety of the Tube network across London, then a Greater London population of, say, 15 million? Estimates of Mumbai population vary – I’ve heard different quotes from 18 to as many as 24 million. Whatever the reality it’s larger than London, there’s no underground network, and there are just the two main overground rail arteries.

So it’s sardine city, with people crammed inside, hanging [literally – see the pics] out of the doors which remain open because it would just be too stifling inside otherwise. The carriage bodies are wider than the UK – 4 passengers deep on either side of a central aisle, with an army of electric fans attached to the roof constantly trying to keep the travellers from passing out in the heat. People are getting off the train long before it comes to a halt in the station, and those on the platform are attempting the same trick in reverse! Pushing and jostling is full-on and if you don’t join in you won’t get on the train.

My host, Benjamin, was very clever to introduce me to the system on a Sunday afternoon when things are at their quietest – thus we got seats easily and it just seemed like a contrasting train journey in a different country.
The next journey [Khaneri Caves] was on a Saturday when ½ day working means more traffic than Sundays but far less then a conventional weekday. Even then, we had to push and pull a little to ensure we got to our destination – if you relent and try waiting for the next train it won’t do you any good, because the platform will have filled up again in the 3-5 minutes gap between trains. They have to be this frequent just to attempt to cope with the sheer volume of people, and I’ve seen the trains in the week from the outside whilst on the road – you would NOT want to attempt it I can assure you ☺

Space is at such a premium that there are small groups of specialists who gang together and work the trains like a specialist Maffioso organisation – if you’re not in the club, you’ll get hassled and jostled so that space can be made for those that are. If you buy the wrong ticket or take up unnecessary space by accidentally getting on a frequent stopping local train when you could’ve got a faster non-stopper, you stand a good chance of getting hassled and pushed off the train.

In keeping with the apparently random nature of the way many things get done here [Mumbai that is] use of space on the railway system is included. Not only do people hang out of moving trains, and walk across the tracks between platforms [and any other place they want to get to via the shortest route] they get on the roofs as well. There is one particularly significant hazard connected with this mode of travel – the overhead power lines that power the electric trains!
People are regularly killed on the railways, in a variety of different ways [nice to have variety isn’t it?] and Benjamin told me he had once even witnessed an electrocuted and charred ex-passenger rolling off the top of a carriage and dropping in front of him on a station platform. Hopefully one of the rarer forms of demise.

So next time I go to London and think about complaining of the congested tube, I may have to think back to Mumbai trains and be thankful ☺

Remember - the video was taken on a sunday . . .