The daily struggle that is Mumbai Railways: The tale of a commuter
, ET Bureau|
Sep 30, 2017, 08.22 AM IST
The spectre of a stampede had reared up in my head just a day earlier while I pushed my way through the crowds on Parel bridge. I voiced my fears on Twitter.
On Friday, on my way to the same bridge, news of the Elphinstone station stairway stampede hit me with brutal force.
There is only one exit at Parel railway station and thousands of officegoers make a mad rush for the bridge as soon as they alight from the train. This happens day in and day out, something that I experience myself in my everyday commute to office.
The bottleneck was simply a tragedy waiting to happen. The situation, as well as the infrastructure, are similar at all of the city’s suburban railway stations — Parel, Elphinstone Road, Currey Road, Chinchpokli, Lower Parel and Mahalaxmi — across the central and western lines. Several stations are in the business district that used to be a textile mills area until its transformation into a swanky commercial zone from the late 1990s. During 2008-12, Lower Parel alone saw nine major projects being started on nearly 8 million square feet of office space. It beat the 6 million square feet at Nariman Point, the city’s central business district for more than 40 years.
Office spaces in central Mumbai have now grown to nearly 11 million sq ft, employing thousands. The infrastructure, meanwhile, remains that which was mainly developed during the British era to support the walk-towork culture in this mill area dotted with 1-2 storey chawls that were home to mill workers.
Lack of planned urban infrastructure to support this accidental makeover in the centre of the financial capital has started to take its toll on its roads, the mass transit systems and, more tragically, human lives.
While mill land was converted into commercial and retail complexes and high-rise skyscrapers with luxury apartments, some priced at Rs 100 crore, came up, infrastructure was largely unattended and grossly incapable of handling the population density.
It is estimated that Mumbai’s suburban railway system carries around 7.5 million commuters daily and stations such as Parel are one of its busiest, ranked after the two chief terminals — Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Churchgate.
These stations have the highest passenger density in Mumbai’s fabled suburban railway system.
I am sure I’m not the only person who has been left fearful and claustrophobic after the daily experience of Parel station. It’s the same story for the millions, mostly professionals, who are forced to use the aging infrastructure at these crucial stations.
Certainly, it is less Mumbai’s spirit and more of a compulsion for Maximum City.
On Friday, on my way to the same bridge, news of the Elphinstone station stairway stampede hit me with brutal force.
There is only one exit at Parel railway station and thousands of officegoers make a mad rush for the bridge as soon as they alight from the train. This happens day in and day out, something that I experience myself in my everyday commute to office.
The bottleneck was simply a tragedy waiting to happen. The situation, as well as the infrastructure, are similar at all of the city’s suburban railway stations — Parel, Elphinstone Road, Currey Road, Chinchpokli, Lower Parel and Mahalaxmi — across the central and western lines. Several stations are in the business district that used to be a textile mills area until its transformation into a swanky commercial zone from the late 1990s. During 2008-12, Lower Parel alone saw nine major projects being started on nearly 8 million square feet of office space. It beat the 6 million square feet at Nariman Point, the city’s central business district for more than 40 years.
Office spaces in central Mumbai have now grown to nearly 11 million sq ft, employing thousands. The infrastructure, meanwhile, remains that which was mainly developed during the British era to support the walk-towork culture in this mill area dotted with 1-2 storey chawls that were home to mill workers.
Lack of planned urban infrastructure to support this accidental makeover in the centre of the financial capital has started to take its toll on its roads, the mass transit systems and, more tragically, human lives.
While mill land was converted into commercial and retail complexes and high-rise skyscrapers with luxury apartments, some priced at Rs 100 crore, came up, infrastructure was largely unattended and grossly incapable of handling the population density.
It is estimated that Mumbai’s suburban railway system carries around 7.5 million commuters daily and stations such as Parel are one of its busiest, ranked after the two chief terminals — Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Churchgate.
These stations have the highest passenger density in Mumbai’s fabled suburban railway system.
I am sure I’m not the only person who has been left fearful and claustrophobic after the daily experience of Parel station. It’s the same story for the millions, mostly professionals, who are forced to use the aging infrastructure at these crucial stations.
Certainly, it is less Mumbai’s spirit and more of a compulsion for Maximum City.
