Rail commuter associations plan peaceful protest on Aug 22
One of their prominent demands is to segregate Mumbai’s transportation and create an independent umbrella body for various modes of transit
MUMBAI: Fed up with delays and cancellations of suburban trains, nine suburban rail passenger associations held a meeting at Thane station on August 10, during which they arrived at a decision to voice their demands on August 22. Rather than a regular morcha, the associations have decided to request citizens to wear white clothes and sport the black band that they will hand out on that date. One of their prominent demands is to segregate Mumbai’s transportation and create an independent umbrella body for various modes of transit.
But soon after the meeting and even before the associations’ charter of demands had been submitted, the organisers received a notice from the Government Railway Police. Hindustan Times has a copy of the notice, which asks the associations to approach the relevant rail officials to raise their issues, and refrain from indulging in any illegal activity on August 22. “We had informed the rail authorities about the Thane meeting,” said Lata Argade of the Upnagriya Railway Pravasi Mahasangh. “Soon after, each of us was handed a notice, asking us to refrain from any form of protest on August 22 in order to not trouble rail passengers.”
What happened at the meeting?
“We have shortlisted five main points that Indian Railways should address to benefit suburban train travel,” said Siddesh Desai, member of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh. “These are: improving the punctuality of local trains, stop giving priority to long-distance trains over local trains during peak hours and, for better management, creating a unified transport body for Mumbai and MMR, similar to those we see in London and Singapore.”
Currently, Central Railway operates 1,810 services a day, with a fleet of 140-plus trains. However, commuters complain that services run late, causing severe overcrowding. “I take the 7.09 am Parel-bound train from Kalyan,” said Kaustubh Deshpande, a Thakurli resident. “It runs late by 15 to 20 minutes, which leads to tremendous overcrowding. One of the reasons for the delay is that there are still long-distance trains running on lines 3 and 4 instead of the new lines 5 and 6 on the Kurla-Kalyan section. The latter are underutilised, due to which the local train schedule gets compromised.”
One of the five demands of the passenger associations is to utilise lines 5 and 6 for all long-distance trains, especially those arriving and departing from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. “Currently, delays and cancellations are leading to mishaps such as commuters falling from overcrowded trains,” said Madhu Kotian, president, Mumbai Railway Pravasi Sangh. “We want the rail authorities to change the local train timetable and give more prominence to suburban trains. On August 22, we will begin our peaceful protest by handing black bands to commuters between 7 am and 9.30 am.” Most of the rail passenger associations are from Thane, Diva, Dombivli, Kalwa, Titwala, Dahanu and Palghar.
Till July this year, 1,416 people died and 1,601 suffered injuries in rail accidents in Mumbai. Sources in the railways said that 327 commuters lost their lives after falling from moving trains. “So many people lose their lives but the railways seem to be least bothered,” said Siddhesh Desai. “For every decision or upgrade in Mumbai’s rail infrastructure, the Railways have to approach the Railway Board in Delhi, which takes its own sweet time. It is for this reason that we have demanded a special transport body for Mumbai, which will be able to implement solutions much faster.”
Passengers have also demanded that the work on ongoing rail projects be expedited, such as Lines 5 and 6 on CSMT-Kurla, and projects at Goregaon-Borivali and Airoli-Kalwa. Another passenger association member said that the railways were indifferent to the travails of lakhs of daily commuters caused by a few thousand encroachers, which led to delays in projects.
Until August 22, the passenger associations will approach people through different social media channels and mediums, and talk to NGOs and Ganpati mandals to propagate their plan of a peaceful protest.