Covid curbs have been eased in Mumbai allowing shops, restaurants and offices to open but no thought has been given to how the employees will reach their workplaces if they are not allowed to board the local trains, the lifeline of Mumbai. An overwhelming 55 per cent of Mumbai uses local trains, with the average trip length being 26 kilometres.
Buses are packed with commuters but when it comes to local train travel, the government has been ultra-cautious, pointing out fears about overcrowding. Even the Bombay high court has questioned this logic. It asked the Maharashtra government why people who have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine – eight per cent of Mumbai – could not be permitted to travel by local trains in Mumbai.
Covid-appropriate measures
Overcrowding is a concern but there is no reason why the government cannot work out the math. The Western Railway – which runs local trains right up to Dahanu, just 67km short of Vapi in Gujarat – says one local train can carry around 700 commuters, with everyone observing social distancing. If they start all 1,367 train services as before, they can transport 9.6 lakh passengers daily, one-fourth of the number of passengers in pre-Covid times.
The Central Railway – whose local trains go up to Kasara and Khopoli, just 65km and 80km short of Nashik and Pune respectively – says it can ferry a maximum of 12.4 lakh of the 45 lakh passengers who travelled on its suburban network before the pandemic. The average occupancy during normal times is 2,500 passengers per train and during peak hours, occupancy rises to as much as 4,500 passengers per train. So, even with social distancing, Mumbai’s local trains can carry 22 lakh commuters a day. With staggered office timings, more passengers can be accommodated. Mobile apps can also be used to segregate commuters. Currently, the Central Railway and Western Railway are operating 706 and 704 suburban services, respectively, for workers in essential services.
Decision-making
Solutions can be found but the question is whether the government has applied its mind to the problem. Has decision-making suffered because hardly any decisions have to be taken these days? Are the shortcomings of the accidental Chief Minister finally showing? Or is the government quick to decide only where its self-interest is concerned, as in the messy aftermath of the Antilia case. When it comes to probing former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and his cronies, the government acts swiftly but when it comes to former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, the government drags its feet.
It is amazing that the government has not thought about the lifeline of Mumbai. With tracks spread over 465km – more than the distance between Pune and back – the Mumbai suburban railway operates 2,342 train services and carries 7.5 million commuters daily, almost one-third of the population of Australia. A Mumbaikar would spend (in pre-Covid times) anywhere between half-an-hour to four hours a day in the local train, as compared to the world average commuting time of 80 minutes.
Lifeline out-of-bounds
Mumbai’s strength is its disciplined workforce, like an army of worker ants. Who would have dreamt that Mumbai’s lifeline would come to such an abrupt and extended halt. The trains were full even when the city was flooded, even when there were communal riots or even when the Shiv Sena called a bandh. The world was stunned in 2006 when Mumbai’s locals were packed as usual on July 12, the day after bombs planted by terrorists killed 207 commuters.
The government should tread with caution but indecision can only harm the interests of the country’s commercial capital.
