Mumbai Local Trains: Like Going to War?

kristinm

I want to live longer though!! Not ready to explore my next incarnation quite yet.

amyl

Oh you see the shit in some pictures but am sure it's NOT ONLY OF the holy being - cow

Kris, I am sure, if you happen to chance upon on one of the stations you will feeling like hopping on the next. The fun of rush, yelling, stink, sweat, anxiety is very contagious

Of course I assume you will take the basic cautions needed at any crowded public place in a foreign country.

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the opoponax

OK, well the photos of the platform look about like any big station rush hour in NYC, maybe turned up to 11, but really not much worse at all.

It's the lack of doors on the trains that gets me, and the guys who're willing to ride halfway outside the train, clinging for dear life... The nice thing about crazy subway crowds in New York is that you have that lovely door containing you.

steven_ber

I'm in Lucknow waiting for a train, I just watched the Avid Assam Express (Bikaner, Delhi, Lucknow, Guwahati) on the platform and was close to tears.

The unreserved 2nd class compartments were some of the most crowded I've seen, every person who was 'lucky' enough to have a seat had someone sitting on their lap, there was someone sitting on the floor in front of these people, all the luggage racks had people sitting on them (not lying down, no room), everywhere else had people crowded very tightly.

You'd think there was no room for anyone else, but still they tried to board, I watched a coolie pass box after box through the exergency window, then the owner of the boxes climbed in through the window.

The really sad thing is, I could see that most of the passengers were Assamese, so they had another 34 hours of those conditions.

A photo would really show the horror, but I could never take a photo of such suffering.

The Sleeper Class carriages looked like pure luxury in comparison.

It made me realise how insignificant and unimportant we spoilt tourists are to Indian Railways.

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amyl

Phew! That will be one nasty ride.

Didn't quite get that. May be I did...may be not. Must be a deep thought relating to travelers, tourists, Indian railways. So made me curious on what that realization is.

kiranlal

I have a feeling like some one learning to swim by reading the instructions from a book.

I recenlty joined Mumbai, i have seen realy top executives using the train regularly.

you are lucky if your office time starts before the rush over. i mean -it is easy to get in to trains before 8 .am and 5 pm

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the opoponax

StephenBer -- Wow. Just wow. That puts in perspective all my griping about riding AmTrak and not having the whole row to myself after a buch of annoying bougie lobbyists got on in Albany.

capt_mahajan

Steven, nice post.

Even though I did not like 'Maximum City', there is a snippet there I remembered, and which I now googled and found..

amyl

Indeed! That snippet has put the spirit of Mumbai Locals in a very nice way. No Muslim, No Hindu, No Brhamin... just a fellow passenger.


But that reminds me of a funny incident (real?). Guess I have already shared that somewhere here. When alighting from a train in (slow)motion at a station, even if you have enough space to run along the train(to work on your inertia), DO NOT RUN. You will be picked up back in the train from the next door thinking you want to board it.

navinkurian2002

After a bad experience while alighting from a fast vashi train in the evening where i waited till the train stopped and my slippers were carried back into the train by the incoming rush.

I realised you need to alight when the train is about 10-20 meters from the place you wanna alight and stand 3rd or 4th in line .The 1st guys are usually the daredevils/experts who alight 40-50 meters from the stopping point.The next 2 about 30 meters and then the next 10 at 20 meters (these are all approximations with the rush you cannot see where you have to really get out.)

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capt_mahajan

I grew up, partly, in Mumbai in the mid/late seventies, and lived there till early 1992. Today's off peak rush was peak rush then, in public transport. Even though I wasn't a local train frequent flier (more BEST buses) , outside office hours you invariably got a place to sit, except the harbour line, sometimes. From almost any station.

Even though living and travelling in Mumbai is murder today, and even though the 1992 riots tarnished it's image somewhat, the city, despite all its pressures, is still the most civilised metro in India.

amyl

Very True! Never been to Kolkota but of Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi I can vote for Mumbai under any circumstances. I never saw any friendly gestures among ppl in Banglore (during a couple of months of stay)...no question about Delhi . Two days were enough for me to realize it's just ain't for me.
I do not know why I take every opportunity to disdain Pune in this regard. Despite all the scary pictures many incidents in Mumbai portray I feel more safe there than in Pune. May be it's just me.



I was carried back in by the On-War-Like heavy influx at Thane station while coming back from a trek. A big backbag kept me from squeezing through. Somehow managed to get off the crowd before the train sped.

amyl

This somehow takes me to that crowd. It's 9:12AM in Mumbai at this moment and all the trains must be jam packed...but to be less crowded in sometime!!!

Chalo Chalo bhai....aage badho....Kurla Kurla......

hee hee hee

avi1010

Morning Rush Hour at some Bombay railway station, narrow foot over bridge absolutely jam packed with commuters, can't give or take an inch, its gonna take ages to descend when suddenly a voice cries out "Machi Pani" (Machi Pani = Fish Water, fisherfolk usually carry fish in wicker baskets on their heads. Ice is packed along with the fish to retain freshness, when the ice melts it drips out from the side of the basket. You don't want to be anywhere close to this lest you get some on your clothes, sure way of getting your office colleagues / others to stay away from you for the rest of the day)

Miraculously the crowd parts like the Red sea......only to find a harmless basket of vegetables has made its way through.

Time Saving Tip in Bombay

amyl

Just came across this photograph.....Mumbai - a city of intense diversities! And so is Mumbai Local

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