Mumbai Local: India's Deadliest Train

Veena, my team member, took the most dangerous train in India. Move. Come on, move.

What are you doing? Let 3-4 people board at a time. Move inside.

Come on, move. Oh God. .

. I think you try and get in first. I'm a little worried that I'll leave you behind.

Every day, around 70 lakh people use Mumbai Local. And these trains are not only crowded, but also dangerous. There was so much rush.

. . there was a lady.

. . So she tried to get on the moving train.

And she got stuck inside. Her body was torn from the waist down. And her blood spurted everywhere.

3-4 ladies beside her were bathed in blood. I was so scared, I had to stay at home for 2 years. I run and catch the 8:21 train.

I get hurt every day. Yesterday, I got hurt here. My shoulder gets hurt all the time.

In short, I keep getting hurt every day. In the last 20 years, 51,000 people have lost their lives in Mumbai Local. Due to slipping or falling off the train, or electrocution In the year 2023, 7 people died every day.

Her body was torn from the waist down. And even if your train journey ends, the difficulties won't go away. We're at Dadar now.

Dadar is a junction of all the important lines. There's an interstate line, a central line, and a western line. So it is quite a crowded station.

So the lift is not functional. People walked till here with their luggage hoping that they would be able to board the lift. And it's not working.

I think the escalator ahead is also not working. This is drinking water. And it looks absolutely filthy.

People are washing their face. And doing other things. The basic infrastructure is broken The lift is not working.

It's another lift which is non-functional. The toilet is dirty. Absolutely filthy.

You cannot even stand here. It smells so bad here. And there's no clean drinking water.

And this is Mumbai's most important public transportation system, which is used by 70 lakh people every day. Don't think this placement is limited to Mumbai. The situation of public transportation is the same across the nation.

But why? When crores of people need it, why can't we provide proper public transportation? To find this out, my team member Veena traveled in Mumbai Local for two days.

We're at Malad station. Not didn't just travel, she suffered as well. Entering Mumbai's local train is like an Olympic sport.

It follows its own rules. Pro tips for traveling in local. One is you should be having your bag in front.

Second is tie your hair. And third is there is always space, so you just push ahead. There is a technique how you get into the train.

When the train stops, you come in from the side and hold the seat That's one option According to the rules, you don't have to wait for the train to stop. Instead, you have to get off and on the moving train. And you have to do this every day.

Usha, 35 years old, works as a maid in Mumbai. And she's been traveling in the local for the past 10 years. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't.

Some people fall and k**l themselves. Tejal's family is always worried that she doesn't get hurt because of a mistake. I always get nervous when the train approaches.

I pray to God. I just want to get a seat without dying. I always say some mantras before I jump in.

Really, I take Krishna's name and jump in. I mean, I get scared. Imagine people are praying.

Not for a job or education. But to safely get on the train. Many of us don't understand how such hustle increases people's mental load.

And then they vent that anger on others. Revenge and everything is there. .

. For seat and all are quarrelling and all. .

. That we will see. .

. Almost every day. Melvin also told us the same thing There are a lot of arguments among people.

Our focus is that you don't get engaged in that argument. Sometimes what happens is that it begins with someone and ends with someone else. Now why do such fights happen?

Because the system doesn't value people. People don't value other people. To bear the difficulties of Mumbai locals, Mumbaikars have come up with a new concept -- Downing.

Many people whom we talked to travel for 4 hours every day. Now if you want to travel for 4 hours then you might want to secure a little space for yourself. For this, they travel in the opposite direction For example, Usha has to go to work from her house But she takes the train in the opposite direction.

So that she could board the train from the starting station And if she's lucky, she will get a seat. And the seat is not a business class seat. In fact, they have also started a new concept for this -- Fourth Seater.

Basically, there are only 3 seats available in the train. But due to the crowd, people have started the concept of a fourth seat, where they sit on the corner of 3 seats And there is no guarantee for this. Even in the first stop of the line, there's so much crowd that you won't get a seat.

This is like the first stop. And there's not even a single seat here. Literally.

The point is that people are always fighting in Mumbai. What kind of fight? First of all, there's a fight to get onto the train.

Once you get in, there's a fight for a seat. Once you get a seat, there's a fight to get off. And even if you get off, the fight isn't over.

Even outside the station, the facilities are as bad. For example, Veena went to the Dadar station, which is one of the busiest stations in Mumbai. This is drinking water.

It is water-clogged. You cannot even stand here. It's absolutely filthy.

It just has a curtain, no proper door. It smells. It reeks of urine.

People must be using it out of necessity. Otherwise, people must be avoiding it. As you can see, there's a ramp here.

And it's at the corner of the station. People will have to walk a lot to access this ramp. For example, we spoke to Shine, who's been using Mumbai Local for 30 years.

And in 30 years, she's only used the bathroom once. And she said she won't repeat this mistake. I've only been there once.

In 15 years! No, in 30 years. Only once in 30 years!

Now imagine. In 30 years, someone has only used the bathroom once. Neither the government is doing anything, nor the people.

You'll find tons of paintings made with gutkha outside the station. Look at this, people have made beautiful graffitis. So that it looks beautiful.

People have spat on it. It is paan graffiti no. If this is the situation of trains and stations, you must be wondering why people use this train.

To understand this, we spoke to several commuters, who travel on the busiest train route in Mumbai -- Virar to Churchgate The main reason is work. People use Mumbai Local for work. South Mumbai is the downtown of Mumbai, where there are many government offices, secretariats, bank headquarters, and corporate offices.

Since the houses in South Mumbai are very expensive, people live in faraway areas and use Mumbai Local to reach South Mumbai But when we asked people if they got tired of commuting and asked why they couldn't find a job nearby. They said that they are commuting for hours because of the job. Have you gotten very tired and thought that let's not go to work maybe look for something nearby something like that because you don't want to travel.

Only the travelling is the problem. Working and the pay are not a problem. So we can't change the new job and all.

I'm comfortable in office. That's why I don't want to leave. In the country's financial capital 88% of people are dependent on local trains -- transport system that was built 150 years ago But it has barely changed in 150 years.

Mumbai's local train system is the world's densest train network system The British built it in 1853 when they built Mumbai's Bori Bundar station. Today we call it Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. And this station became the starting point of the country's first railway travel between Mumbai and Thane.

The train service starts at 4 am. And it runs till 1 pm the next day. During peak hours the train is so congested that railway officials call it a super-dense crush load.

During peak hours, a train that should have 1,700 passengers is filled with 5,000 people. People use Mumbai locals because it's one of the world's cheapest forms of transport. You can cover 120 km in just 30 rupees.

The connectivity is also very good. Broadly, you can divide the train system into four corridors. The first is the Western Line, which is so long that it can reach the Gujarat border.

Then there's the Central Line, then the Harbour, and finally, the Trans-Harbour Line, which was recently added. In terms of price and connectivity, people have no other option. Getting a seat in Mumbai is a matter of luck.

And that's why a 22-year-old Geetha got bored in no time. How long have you been doing this? It's been three months.

Three months? How's the experience? It's the worst, actually.

So, why hasn't this problem been solved yet? In the 2025 budget, the Mumbai Rail System received Rs. 16,400 crores.

The budget is approved, and projects are announced, but on the ground, nothing happens. For example, in 2010, the Mumbai Urban Transport Project was announce that aimed to separate the long-distance and local train traffic to reduce the load on the system. The project was supposed to be completed in June 2015, but in December 2016, it was announced that it would be completed in 2022.

And the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority has now announced that the project will be completed in 2027 and not 2022. So, one thing that was announced in 2010 will be completed in 2027. Projects aren't being executed, but the population is increasing, and the load on the local train is increasing.

For how many years have you been travelling? Now, about 30 years. So, you have observed, in 30 years, how local trains transformed.

. . Now, it is very hectic.

Earlier, it was not like that. Now, it is very difficult. If you want to ask something from the government, or any authority in Mumbai, what will you ask, as a commuter who is travelling every day?

Travelling to be increased. Actually, it is increased, the number of people is also increased. Nowadays, students are also working.

The population is increasing. The population is increasing, the number of trains remains the same. I am a new student, I am travelling.

If more students come, what will happen to them? There will be more rush, more deaths. Every day, we hear news that someone fell and died or someone lost their leg, etc.

So many incidents are occurring. The Mumbai local train network was designed for 25 lakh people. But daily, it is used by 70 lakh people.

That is 3 times more. That is why people are travelling on these trains like cattle. But Babu Bhaiya, if you have money, the situation can be different.

Trains that have 12-15 coaches, 4 of them are first-class coaches. In these first-class coaches, you will get the luxury of cushion seating. But actually, the luxury is not of the seating, but of the space.

Because the crowd is less. But is the first-class coach even helping people? What you see on the other side is first-class.

And in peak hours, there is not much difference between first-class and second-class. As you can see. So we got the answer.

In first-class coaches, the demand is so high that during peal hours there is no difference between first-class and second-class. AC trains, which were launched in 2007, aimed to offer relief to people. People should be happy with AC trains, right?

But a lot of people are not. In AC first-class, you won't get the 4th seat. They will tell you to board a general coach.

Swati is angry because you're not allowed to sit on the 4th seat in AC trains. They are very strict. However, in AC trains, people spend money to get space.

So why is Swati angry? She is angry because AC trains have affected non-AC trains. After the introduction of AC trains, the time gap among non-AC trains have increased.

They've launched AC trains. Has that benefited you? Madam, only people who can afford the ticket can get into the AC train.

But poor people can't afford AC trains. So they are afraid that if they add more AC trains, they'll stop the operations of affordable trains. The middle class.

. . people who earn 10k-15k a month, how can they afford the monthly Rs.

2000 AC pass? The people who earn 50k a month can afford such expensive tickets. Have you ever travelled on an AC train?

Yes, I have. Is it jam-packed as well? Can you find a space?

It is crowded as well, but compared to this train, it's a bit relieving. There's too much rush. There's rush in the morning?

Have you travelled in it? Yes. But if you go to the government they'll simply say that they have provided AC trains.

. . The person who says that should come and travel on this train.

That will give them a reality check. AC train isn't a solution for people like Usha. Cancel the AC trains.

-- Cancel them? -- Yes. Why?

Because it's too expensive? Yes, it's expensive. Only the office workers can afford them.

We can't afford them. We're poor people. AC trains have increased the class divide in Mumbai.

Because of AC trains, non-AC trains are affected. That's why it's common to travel for 3-5 hours. So, 3 to 3.

5 hours daily? Yes, I travel for that long. .

. 2. 5 hours.

I travel for 4 hours on average. The worst part of Mumbai is that even if the train journey is over, the struggle is not because now you've to reach home. We don't have money to take an autorickshaw.

We spend Rs. 40 per day on commuting. But buses can solve this problem.

In fact, in the recent 75,000 crore budget of BMC, 1,000 crore has been given to the government's BEST company that runs buses in Mumbai. This is the same company whose loss went from Rs. 6,400 crore to Rs.

9,200 crore in 2 years. For BEST, the crowd is really more than the shared autos. .

. There are only 3000 buses for 30 lakh daily passengers. These buses are used for last-mile commutes from the train station to the homes.

For the past 20 years, Radheshyam Soni has been using these buses from Bandra's railway station to go to his office in Tata Colony. But he says that the waiting time used to be 10 minutes, but now it's 30 minutes, and because of this, he had to change his schedule. He says that instead of 8 in the morning, he takes the bus at 10 to avoid long queues.

But no matter how long the waiting time is, people still use these buses because they're affordable. And definitely BEST is more cost efficient as it's only costing Rs. 5 for the bandstand, the minimum charge is Rs.

20 per person, which is a huge margin difference. And just like Mumbai locals, buses are facing the same problem. Population is increasing, but not the number of buses.

In the past 8 years, the number of buses in Mumbai has decreased. In our country, Delhi is the only major city where the number have gone up. There are only 3,000 buses in Greater Mumbai.

But there's a need for 8,000 buses. The situation is bad because different companies offer their own buses. In Mumbai, you'll only get the BEST bus, while in Thane, Thane Municipal Transport manages it.

And in areas like Vasai, this duty is upheld by Maharashtra State Transport Services. So in areas like Vasai and Virar, the population of people working in Mumbai is increasing, but the BEST buses don't run there. So many people argue that there should only be one organization that runs buses in all areas.

But what do our politicians do? Forget buses, look at my new metro. But metro won't solve the problem.

Railway's technical and engineering consultancy report showed that metros will only carry 1. 5% of the morning peak hour traffic. In Mumbai, metros only carry 30% of the traffic, while in Bengaluru, it's only 6%.

And don't think that this situation is limited to Mumbai and Bengaluru. In Kanpur, a 9-kilometer metro has been inaugurated recently. Look at the state of it.

The government has inaugurated this metro in Kanpur. They make the announcement that nobody should sit on the floor. It's completely empty.

27-year-old Sanjay Singh says that more than the normal public, you see influencers in the metro making videos. The problem is that metro tickets are very expensive for the poor, and there's no last-mile connectivity in the city the rich. That's why it's a problem for public transportation in our cities.

And whoever earns a little money buys a car. And you know what that leads to? Last year, it took Mumbai 21 minutes to cover 10 kilometers on average.

You'll say 21 minutes to cover 10 km! I'll give you some good news. After a year, it took Mumbai 39 minutes to cover 10 kilometers.

An average Mumbaikar spends 200 hours a year in traffic jams. That means a Mumbaikar spends 8 days a year in traffic. The problem is that our politicians aren't prioritizing public transport.

Instead, they're focusing on expensive things. Be it roads, flyovers, or metros. For instance, a coastal road worth ₹12,000 crores has been built.

It's an 8-lane expressway. It has reduced the travel time from Marine Drve to Bandra to 10 minutes. Now Mumbai will become Singapore.

Right? Wrong. Who will benefit from this coastal road?

BMC lawyers told the Supreme Court that the coastal road will be used by 60,000 cars every day. If there are 4 people in each car, the coastal road will be used by 2,40,000 people every day. Compare this to Mumbai Local, which is used by 70 lakh people every day.

So, according to the budget, Rs. 5 lakh was spent on each person for the coastal road. And for the local train, only Rs.

23,000 were spent on each person. Now you can see the difference. So basically, resources are being spent of people like me, who have cars.

But most people don't have cars. What about them? Mumbai has 30 buses for every 1 lakh people.

While in London, this number is 105. To reach London's ratio, Mumbai needs not 3,000, but 25,000 buses. The cost of this would be ₹45,000 crores.

That's a lot, right? But look, last year, a ceiling project worth ₹63,000 crores was approved. Many research studies have shown that building new flyovers or widening roads doesn't solve the traffic problem.

After some time, it gets crowded. This is called induced demand. The more roads you build, the more cars will flock there.

The traffic doesn't reduce; it just shifts. Like the Sion-Panvel flyover was built to fix traffic issue between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. But instead of fixing the traffic, the traffic issue has increased.

If public transport is better in our cities, it has so many benefits. It reduces mental stress, reduces noise pollution, and reduces air pollution. Look at Paris.

Paris has promoted cycling infrastructure in the city, which has reduced air pollution. While in cities like Chennai, ₹17 crores were spent on a smart cycling project. What happened to the project?

It failed. If 400,000 people in Ahmedabad can take the metro for a Coldplay concert in two days, can't we normalize such things in our cities? But there's one thing for sure.

The people of Mumbai have hope. They hope that no matter how many roads are dug, no matter how much dust is blown, no matter how much noise is made, the situation will improve. Do you think digging roads will make a difference?

It should. It'll make a difference. It should be good.

Once it's done, we might get a little relief. It'll be good for everyone. Apart from hope, they have empathy for each other.

When we spoke to some women, they said that their situation is bad. But it's the men who are worse off who have to fight in such a crowd. They're very respectful.

They help us board the train. They get down and let us board the train first. They're good people.

They are decent. This is called the spirit of Mumbai. But unfortunately, our politicians are taking this spirit for granted.

But don't worry. Our government is prioritizing the main issues.