Suresh Prabhu wants a committee to rein in commuting madness

On Monday, railway minister Suresh Prabhu announced the setting up of a committee comprising railway and state government officials along with commuter associations and NGOs to find a solution to the problems of crowding on the suburban system and the resultant accidents and deaths from it. Prabhu has asked city-based railway officials of both Western and Central Railways to ensure that the committee submits its report within a month of its formation and also to implement the recommendations as quickly as possible.

The move comes after a hue and cry over the death of a commuter, Dombivli-resident Bhavesh Nakate after he fell from a CST-bound train between Kopri and Diva stations on Friday morning. Nakate was on the footboard of the train because he was unable to get in due to the crowding inside the train. Every year about 3,700 people are killed after being run over by trains or falling off them. An equal number are left grievously injured.

Officials, who dna spoke to on Monday, reiterated that railway statistics show that passenger load per coach has fallen on both CR and WR superficially. According to statistics, the passenger load per coach has come down to about 230-240. However, the statistics these officials pointed out calculated crowding on a 24-hour basis.

"However, travel patterns on Mumbai's suburban network show that the bulk of commuting is still concentrated during the morning peak (8am to 10am) and evening peak (5pm to 8pm)," said an official.

"Let us look at it this way. During the peak hour, in a coach meant for 200, if 500 people are travelling, a reduction of 50 persons cannot be felt by the 450 inside the coach. It can only be felt if the coach has say 250 people and the crowd reduces by 20 or 30 people," said a senior railway official.

Suggestions like staggering of office timings in Mumbai, as suggested by railway minister Prabhu during a press interaction in January this year, are too radical to be implemented in a short time, said officials. "This will allow a spreading of the crowd over a 24-hour period, but is easier said than done. The only solution is new lines, and 15-coach trains," said Bhandup resident Manish Chaturvedi.

Numbers go up:
CR has 145 crore passengers per year which works out to 39.7 lakh passengers per day
WR- 128 crore passengers per year which works out to 35 lakh passengers per day
Population of India as per Census 2011 is 121 crore
Between them CR and WR carry 273 crore passengers per year, which works out to transporting all of India 2.25 times or the entire population of Maharashtra (as per Census 2011 is 11.2 crores) which works out to 24.8 times or population of Mumbai (1.9 crores as per Census 2011) some 143 times