Mumbai trains: New-age warriors take on railways to fix the daily commute

These bravehearts are campaigning for better services, improved safety, and a more efficient railway system

Mumbai: Unknown to the millions commuting on Mumbai’s railway network every day, a band of warriors is quietly fighting on their behalf. Up against the Indian Railways, a behemoth whose administrative machinery is wrapped in red tape, these bravehearts are campaigning for better services, improved safety, and a more efficient railway system.

Hindustan Times met five Mumbaikars in their 30s and early 40s – a scientist, an advocate, a software engineer, a logistics professional, and a financial analyst – who are leading the charge. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Most of them use new-age digital tools to get the railways to take notice, and follow-up with meetings and sometimes protests. This is a marked departure from the age-old formula of blocking railway tracks and damaging railway property, to get the railway administration to listen. They have found that leveraging social media and filing RTI applications is surprisingly effective.

Earlier this month, both the Western and Central railways s tweaked their suburban timetables. While the WR added 12 new services, the CR is running shorter, shuttle routes on the Thane-Kalyan belt. Behind the scenes were these young, qualified railway activists who along with fellow crusaders got the railway administration to increase services, operate more trains on crowded sections, among other things.

Hindustan Times met five Mumbaikars in their 30s and early 40s – a scientist, an advocate, a software engineer, a logistics professional, and a financial analyst – who are leading the charge.

Siddesh Desai (42), Secretary, Mumbai Railway Pravasi Sangh

Achievements

* Construction of Kharegaon ROB, Shivaji Nagar FOB, Indira Nagar FOB, and road connecting Kalwa station to Gholai Nagar

* Operates three handles on social media platform ‘X’ to raise issues

Dadar resident Siddesh Desai started commuting to Kalwa regularly in 2008, when he met his future wife, who lived there. He was astonished to see how people commuted to work daily. The turning point came when he saw a teenage girl getting hit by a train while crossing the tracks, and a commuter falling from a moving train. “I picked him up and took him to the Kalwa hospital. This is when I started a Facebook page called ‘Kalwa Parsik Pravasi Sanghatana’,” said Desai, who works as a scientist in a pharmaceutical company in Airoli.

Desai started flagging issues to the Central Railway and other government organisations, on issues such as lack of foot overbridges (FOB) and incomplete roads leading to level crossings. “Initially, I worked anonymously on social media but my posts started to gain traction and led to some problems being solved,” he said.

In 2015, Desai and his social media followers organised a ‘Twitter Morcha’ with the hashtag ‘Kachara Kadha Andolan’ at Kalwa station. Their crowning achievements are the construction of the Kharegaon road over bridge (ROB), Shivaji Nagar FOB, Indira Nagar FOB, and a road connecting Kalwa railway station to Gholai Nagar, he said.

Gradually, Desai widened his reach to other issues – augmenting local bus services in Kalwa and Diva, improving water supply in the area. As his work got noticed, he became part of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh, an offline commuter organisation. He currently operates at least three handles on social media platform ‘X’ and has raised issues through more than 30,000 posts.

The Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh’s slate of demands includes: New rail lines on the Panvel-Karjat and Kalwa-Airoli routes; an ROB in Kalwa; easing movement on the fifth and sixth rail lines on the Thane-Diva route.

Pratik Patil (31), Dahanu Vaitarna Railway Pravasi Sangh

Achievements

* More halts of long-distance trains at Palghar station

* Got four more suburban services added on Virar-Dahanu route

For the last seven years, Pratik Patil’s daily commute has involved travelling from Palghar, where he lives, to his workplace in a logistics role at a pharmaceutical company in Andheri. It’s a four-hour commute and Patil prefers to take mail and express trains as local trains are overcrowded.

“On weekends, I work for the benefit of commuters, visiting railway control rooms, and meeting railway officials and staff to discuss operational issues on the Virar-Dahanu route,” said Patil.

For Patil, the turning point came in 2015-16 when commuters from Palghar were roughed up by commuters from Virar and the railway police in Dahanu-bound trains. “That’s when commuters residing on the Vaitarna-Dahanu stretch urged me and my friends to form the Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sanghatana, to advocate for commuter rights.

The answer lay in increasing the number of halts made by long-distance trains at Palghar. “After years of following up through letters and reminders, at least four long-distance trains now halt at Palghar station. In addition, due to our relentless efforts, the Western Railway’s revised timetable introduced this month has four more suburban train services on the Virar-Dahanu route,” said Patil.

On new ways of protesting, he said, “I am firmly against blocking the tracks, damaging trains and disrupting services. This is the digital age and of social media. Issues can be flagged with the railway authorities peacefully. Our focus is on constructive engagement, rather than protests,” said Patil.

Akshay Mahapati (32), Member, Akhand Konkan Railway Pravasi Seva Samiti Maharashtra

Achievements

* Introducing two AC coaches on Diva-Sawantwadi train

* Getting Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat train to halt at Khed

This software engineer from Kalwa has been travelling on the Konkan Railway since he was a child, to travel to his native village in Mahad. Mahapati said his connection with the railways goes back to the early 1990s. In 2013, he went to Thiruvananthapuram on work, when a family friend introduced him to the concept of public grievance portals for government agencies. From 2015-16, he started engaging more seriously in railway issues.

“My first success was getting the spelling of ‘Mangaon’ station corrected. This marked the beginning of my advocacy journey,” Mahapati said. After that, he began taking up issues such as unauthorised passengers in reserved coaches and demanding halts to more trains on the Konkan Railway, said Mahapati, who first started taking the local trains to Nerul on the Trans-Harbour corridor during his college days in 2010.

A decade ago, he joined the Konkan Vikas Samiti, and in 2023, the Akhand Konkan Railway Pravasi Seva Samiti Maharashtra, an umbrella body of over 20 passenger organisations from Palghar to Sindhudurg. “I travel to the Konkan once a fortnight. I speak to fellow passengers, meet members from different railway stations on this route, and watch out for issues. I have been able to introduce two AC coaches on the Diva-Sawantwadi train, which had only non-AC coaches for 25 years,” said Mahapati.

Among his other victories are getting the Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat train to halt at Khed.

“While I believe protests can be a legitimate tool for change, I prefer to follow up with public representatives instead, viewing protests as a last resort. I’m tech-savvy and have effectively utilised the public grievance portal and RTI processes to gather information and file complaints. I am glad my work has gained visibility, and people recognise me as a ‘railway expert’.

Prathamesh Prabhutendolkar (36), Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha

Achievements

* Launched Dahanu-Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha in 2017. It has 10,000 members

In 2007, Prathamesh Prabhutendolkar, a resident of Palghar, began commuting regularly by local train, to attend college in Mumbai. “In the early years, people residing on the Vaitarna-Dahanu stretch had to take a long-distance train till Virar and change to a suburban local. I used to leave at 5.30am and return at 10pm almost every day. This made me acutely aware of the commuting challenges faced by people. Since then, I have been writing to the Western Railway authorities to add more services on the Virar-Dahanu belt,” said Prabhutendolkar.

In 2014, he witnessed an incident that ramped up his crusade. “A train arrived on the wrong platform and due to an incorrect announcement at Palghar station, and commuters were caught off-guard. A fisherwoman carrying a basket on her head jumped onto the tracks to catch the train. She was saved by a whisker as a long-distance train zipped by on the neighbouring line.

“We asked the station master why no announcement had been made but he brushed us off. I then decided to take up issues faced by rail passengers on this stretch of the WR,” added Prabhtendolkar who is now a practicing lawyer.

Around 2016-2017, clashes between commuters from Vaitarna-Dahanu and the railway police at Virar station galvanised local commuters and prompted Prabhutendolkar to launch the Dahanu-Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha in 2017. Starting with 300 members, it now has around 10,000.

Kaustubh Deshpande (40), member of Railway Pravasi Sangh and resident of Thakurli

Achievements

* ‘White Day’ protest to improve punctuality of local trains

* Taking up issues such as stinky toilets, unclean stations, escalator breakdowns, delays in trains

Ever since he moved to Dombivli in 2014, Kaustubh Deshpande’s daily commute to Andheri has been quite challenging, as it involves a change of trains at Dadar. A turning point came when Deshpande tweeted about the deteriorating condition of the Kopar railway bridge near Thane. To his surprise, former union railway minister Suresh Prabhu retweeted it, which brought out the warrior in him.

“From stinky toilets, unclean railway stations, escalator breakdowns, to delays in trains etc, I began talking about problems at Dombivli station on social media,” said Deshpande, who has an MBA degree in finance and travels to Parel for work every day.

For the last six years, he has been actively engaging with fellow crusaders like Siddesh Desai, and together, they have addressed many railway issues. Recently they organised protests, including a ‘White Day’ protest, where Deshpande suggested wearing black bands on white shirts to mark a peaceful protest. “It was to improve the punctuality of local trains,” said Deshpande, who explained that, every day, train services on the Central Railway are delayed by 20-25 minutes during peak hours.

Other issues that he and other members of the association have taken up together include underutilisation of five to six rail lines on the Kurla-Kalyan stretch. “There are many railway passenger associations. Although each one has its own separate objectives, a common goal is missing. We should all come together and to raise our demands. It is essential for citizens to be proactive, but unfortunately not enough people come forward,” said Deshpande.