Jampacked AC train creates chaos, delay at Andheri station

MUMBAI: Overcrowded trains are hardly a novelty for Mumbai. But on July 4, in an unusual incident, a 6.06 pm Churchgate-Bhayandar air-conditioned local got held up at Andheri station for a good four minutes because of this factor. Such was the congestion within that it blocked the functioning of the door-closing mechanism, on account of which the train was unable to move.

The AC local was scheduled to reach Andheri station at 6.42 pm but according to Western Railway (WR) officials, it arrived at 6.57 pm. The coach was full to the brim, and the situation was such that WR authorities, for the first time, had to deploy staff to push commuters inside to enable the doors to close.

“Bags were a big obstruction—even if we managed to push people inside, their bags were hanging out of the doors,” said a WR staffer. “We even requested commuters to alight and catch the next train, but as there are few AC local trains, they refused to listen. Even though there was no visible space inside the train, more and more people were trying to enter the coach.”

The trains on WR were already running late on Tuesday evening, which, according to WR officials, led to the terrible rush. As per the scheduled timetable, 6.57 pm was the time at which the Bhayandar-bound AC local should have reached Borivali station. “By the time it reached Dadar, the coaches were full like any other local train. When it reached Andheri, there was very little space inside and we could hear a commotion,” said A Prasad, a resident of Bhayandar.

The average halt time at a major station for an AC local is around 40 seconds during peak hours. However, as the train was already running late by 15 minutes or so, the crowd on the platform increased. “The train was stuck for at least four minutes at Andheri station,” said a senior WR official.

According to statistics, in June, WR issued more than 6.11 lakh tickets and season passes to 31.23 lakh commuters. Between July 1 and 4, WR carried 4.44 lakh passengers after a sale of 58,731 tickets and season passes. People and rail passenger associations complained that there were many more travelling in AC locals without valid tickets. “We have also been receiving complaints about the lack of ticket-checking staff inside AC locals, especially during peak hours,” said Kailash Verma, member, Passenger Amenities Committee.

The ticket-checking staff agreed that there had been a drop in the number of staffers who checked tickets but said that it was difficult to enter AC locals during peak hours. WR authorities, however, claimed that surprise checks were often conducted, and from April to June this year, 19,618 ticketless travellers were apprehended and ₹65.23 lakh collected by way of fines.

At present, there are 14 AC locals in Mumbai, of which WR has eight in its fleet operating 79 services. The next round of 238 AC locals will arrive only from MUTP-3 and 3A, that too after two and a half to three years. Until then, rail authorities say there are no plans of adding more AC locals to their fleet.