Mumbai train accident: Hanging between life and death

The Hindu

2 days ago

Deepak Shirsat, 23, and Ketan Saroj, 23, childhood friends and neighbours, travelled together to work daily. They would board the Mumbai local train from Ulhasnagar to Airoli, changing lines once at Thane, covering 36 km. Like other days, they took the 9.38 a.m. local during peak office travel hours to the business process outsourcing company they worked at.
On June 9, Saroj, along with three other passengers, died in a train accident; nine others were injured. This week, one more person, who sustained grievous injuries in the accident, died. Railway officials say the incident could have occurred due to jerks on a curve between Diva and Mumbra stations in Thane. The bags of commuters standing on the footboards of two trains going in opposite directions — Karjat-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and CSMT-Kasara — possibly collided, causing passengers to lose balance, according to officials.
As Shirsat waits, along with his father and Saroj's family, to claim his friend's body at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital, Kalwa, 39 km from Mumbai, he says, 'I don't know whether I can ever step into a train. He fell right in front of my eyes. I was inside and he was standing at the door. Despite pulling the chain thrice, the train did not stop.'
The Mumbai Suburban Railway System in Maharashtra serves an average of 75 lakh commuters daily, with 228 trains (138 of the Central Railway and 90 of the Western Railway) operating across eight corridors. The network witnessed 570 deaths owing to commuters falling off trains in 2024; 1,329 people were injured in such incidents. From January to March this year, the Central Railway recorded 88 deaths and 198 injuries and the Western Railway recorded 44 deaths and 131 injuries in such incidents, as per official data. Both are administrative units within India's 17 railway zones and headquartered in Mumbai.
The local trains cover the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), spanning 6,328 sq km, as per the Comprehensive Mobility Plan, 2021. MMR covers Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, and Thane, Raigad, and Palghar districts.
Over the past 20 years, over 51,000 people have lost their lives on Mumbai's locals, as per railway administration information presented in the Bombay High Court in response to a petition filed in 2024 by Yatin Jadhav, a daily commuter on the Virar-Churchgate route of the Western Railway. Virar is a coastal town in Palghar district, about 60 km from Mumbai.
Jadhav's petition sought accountability and stated that the railway administration had failed to provide a safe mode of transport to commuters, who are compelled to use the suburban railway system as it is affordable and accessible. On June 20 this year, Justice Sandeep Marne of the High Court, referring to the affidavit filed by the Central Railway in response to the petition, said, 'It is disturbing that in 2024 alone, 3,588 people died [including while crossing railway tracks]. This means 10 Mumbaikars die every day.'
Tarun Kumar, Additional Divisional Railway Manager at CSMT, refused to comment on the operations of the suburban railway network.
Daily grind
As raindrops patter on the rusty tin roof of the Thane railway station, Vaishali Shirkar, 50, is waiting for a local train. She glances at her watch now and then — an ordinary scene at all stations in the city during the monsoon. Shirkar is one of many commuters caught between life and survival. She has been travelling from Badlapur to her workplace in Thane for the past 15 years.
'I dislocated my shoulder in 2018 on a Badlapur local. Since then, pain has become a part of my life,' she says, adding that her knees hurt too. 'Sitting at home is not an option for single mothers.' She says accidents are 'normal', people move on, and that is 'the spirit of Mumbai'. 'Nothing much has changed over the years; train delays and crowding are still the same,' she adds.
Western Railway spokesperson Vineet Abhishek says a lot has changed in the past 20 years. 'We have increased our capacity by almost 70% through multiple projects to upgrade infrastructure and modernise the rolling stock. As of now, key projects like extension of the fifth and sixth line, and the Harbour Line are in the pipeline, which will add to our capacity,' he says.
Commuters are demanding more trains to expand the network, especially on the Harbour Line. According to the Central Railway, it is challenged by the long process of land acquisition and rehabilitation of project-affected persons.
In the meantime, people continue to struggle. 'Trains are packed like grains in a sack,' says Irappa Pawar, 34, who commutes daily at 8.30 a.m. from Ambivli to reach his workplace in Thane, a 30-km journey that takes 30 minutes.
Abhishek concurs, stating that the Central Railway transports around 4,000 passengers during peak hours every day, despite having a capacity of 2,500, while the Western Railway carries double its intended capacity.
Pawar says he chooses to live in Ambivli as housing in the area is affordable. 'If a person earns only ₹30,000 a month, it is impossible to live in Mumbai or Thane with a family. We live outside the city and earn inside it,' he says.
Nandkumar Deshmukh, chief of the Thane Railway Pravasi Sanstha, a 12-year-old organisation that fights for the rights of commuters, says the railway administration lacks vision.
'They should have known that the city's growth would lead to increased pressure on the railways, given the expansion into suburbs like Panvel and Belapur in Navi Mumbai, as well as the proposed Mumbai 3.0 (Karnala-Sai-Chirner New Town) and further development in Raigad district,' he says, demanding a shuttle service from Thane to regions like Kalwa, Diva, and Dombivli, situated on its outskirts. Mumbai is a narrow, elongated peninsula stretching south to north, so a linear transport system makes it possible to run parallel lines, he says.
Railway reaction
Following the incident, the Railway Board, which regulates the Indian Railways, announced the launch of a prototype non-AC train with an automatic door closing system in January 2026.
'The new non-AC trains will be designed with ventilation in mind, featuring doors with louvres, roof-mounted ventilation units to circulate fresh air, and vestibules connecting coaches to allow passengers to move freely and distribute the crowd more evenly,' says Swapnil Nila, spokesperson of the Central Railway.
Commuters, however, are sceptical about the announcement. Siddhesh Desai, an activist with the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh, which was founded in 1995 to protect passenger rights, questions how the doors will function during overcrowding.
The concept of non-AC trains with doors isn't new to the suburban railway network. In June 2021, the Western Railway tested automatic doors in a few coaches during peak and non-peak hours. 'However, the experiment was deemed not fruitful due to the door operation time exceeding the average halt time of 30 seconds to one minute. Moreover, carbon dioxide levels during the trials reached 2,150 ppm (parts per million), far surpassing the permissible limit of 700 ppm,' says a source from the Western Railway.
In April this year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had announced the launch of 238 new AC suburban trains that would replace non-AC trains in a phased manner.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reiterated this on June 10, a day after the accident in Thane. 'The plan for introducing more AC trains without increasing the fare has been prepared. We want to keep fares as low as possible and make AC trains accessible for everyone without any discrimination,' Fadnavis told mediapersons.
Sitting on a bench at the Dadar railway station's platform, Nalini Priya, a 26-year-old graphic designer from Naigaon in Palghar district, says, 'AC trains are often overcrowded to the point where the doors can't close. There's always someone who thinks the train can accommodate one more person.'
The Central Railway has also explored the option of changing office timings for better crowd management, but so far nothing has come of it.
'We are laying tracks and soon work will be complete on several routes, including Kandivali-Borivali and Virar-Borivali,' says the spokesperson of the Western Railway.
Experts emphasise that no city can rely on one mode of transport; a smooth commute requires a multi-modal system where the metro, buses, and other options share the load.
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Edited by Sunalini Mathew