Every morning, thousands of suburban commuters risk their lives by clinging to footboards of overcrowded Mumbai local trains. With packed compartments and insufficient services, daily officegoers from distant suburbs like Kalyan, Dombivli and Diva face life-threatening commutes—often sacrificing safety just to reach workplaces on time and avoid salary cuts.
Mumbai’s sprawling suburban railway network—hailed as the city’s lifeline—has increasingly become a site of peril for commuters travelling from outer zones into the metropolis. Amid mounting urban density, inadequate infrastructure upgrades, and chronic shortage of services, passengers find themselves trapped in a high-stakes commute where punctuality is often bought at the cost of safety. Crush-hour travel during weekday mornings is particularly harrowing for residents of Kalyan-Dombivli, Diva, and Badlapur, where trains headed towards Mumbai and Thane arrive packed well before they reach their station. With a lack of adequate coaches and frequency mismatches, many passengers say they are compelled to hang precariously from footboards—despite knowing the risk—simply to avoid losing a day’s pay for tardiness.
An official from a civic mobility forum pointed out that the worst pressure is felt on the Central Line. Most fatalities or injuries from falls occur after trains leave Dombivli or Diva and head toward Mumbra, where tracks curve and speeds increase. These sections, according to transport experts, are accident-prone zones due to intense passenger crowding and sudden jerks from railway turns. Another senior planner associated with urban rail policy highlighted that some fast trains that begin their journey from Karjat or Kasara accumulate passengers across several halts before reaching the busier mid-suburbs. By the time they pull into stations like Dombivli or Diva, they are already overloaded. Boarding such trains, especially without a prior origin-point advantage, becomes a dangerous gamble.
Commuters from the eastern and central zones also complain of indifferent monitoring. In many cases, ticket checks are absent during morning peak hours. This leads to first-class compartments being overcrowded by general-ticket holders, further negating the purpose of those who pay a premium to avoid the rush. An expert from a transport think tank noted that the absence of systemic crowd management during rush hours not only increases the risks of injury or death but also deepens public transport inequity. Those who cannot afford flexible work hours or private transport options are disproportionately forced to endure unsafe travel conditions.
The situation worsens when services are delayed or cancelled. Passengers often skip multiple trains in search of manageable space but are eventually compelled to board at risk due to rigid employer reporting times. A senior public policy academic remarked that the situation reflects a deep disconnect between urban transit planning and the lived reality of working-class populations who depend on these trains for livelihood. Though the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation has initiated projects to augment capacity through the MUTP (Mumbai Urban Transport Project), rollout has lagged behind commuter growth. Stakeholders say that until long-promised solutions—such as increased train frequency, extended rakes, and elevated corridors—are delivered, short-term measures like crowd marshals or staggered office timings must be pursued actively.
Meanwhile, calls are growing for the state and central railway authorities to treat footboard travel as a policy failure rather than a commuter choice. A senior transport economist stated that travel choices under duress are a symptom of neglect, not preference. Citizens cling to the edges of train doors not for thrill, but due to systemic compulsion. Urban mobility advocates urge for sustainable and gender-neutral solutions. Women, especially, face additional challenges navigating packed compartments, and fear of falls or harassment pushes many to avoid trains altogether during peak hours. A more equitable city, experts argue, would ensure transport systems that uphold dignity, safety, and time-efficiency for all demographics.
In the backdrop of these recurring incidents, civil society has demanded public consultation in rail infrastructure decisions and fast-tracked efforts to decentralise jobs away from South Mumbai. Only by addressing the root causes—such as extreme job centralisation, outdated rakes, and high commuter-to-coach ratios—can Mumbai’s transit ecosystem begin to move towards safety, sustainability, and inclusivity. The human cost of delays in urban transit reform is no longer abstract. It is visible each morning, on the edge of steel coaches, where thousands hang on—between hope and hazard.
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