Mumbai’s lifeline, the suburban railway network, seems finally set for an overhaul. Two days after Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu travelled on a local train, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took the same route to get a first-hand account of the harrowing experience common commuters encounter daily.
In a break from tradition, Fadnavis on Monday took a local train on his way to attend a public function in Kalyan. That the Chief Minister travelled on a local during peak hours — he boarded a 6.29 pm fast from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus — surprised many.
“Although I’ve travelled previously in local trains when I was an Opposition legislator, I used to avoid travelling during peak hours,” Fadnavis said. “I was running late for the Kalyan function. I thought travelling on a train would also allow me to interact with commuters and understand their problems first-hand,” Fadnavis said.
While senior central railway authorities claimed that they weren’t informed in advance about the CM’s train journey, sources in the CMO confirmed that arrangements had been made four hours before the ride. Senior CR authorities also said the CM objected to the suggestion of vacating the first class railway coach in which he travelled.
So what lessons did the CM learn from his ‘Train Pe Charcha’? His very first observation was “Mumbaikars appear to have got used to travelling in overcrowded trains. One would think that commuters would rant the most about overcrowded locals. Surprisingly, this was not the case,” Fadnavis said.
“They seemed more aggrieved about congestion at railway stations. Some of the commuters told me that the congestion at the Thane railway station, for instance, was unmanageable. They also recited instances on how security of women commuters was at risk due to this overcrowding.” The CM said he had decided to ask railway officials to “carry out a footprint survey for all stations.”
“Most stations need a revamp. They were designed long ago and lack capacity to handle the crowd we see today,” Fadnavis said.
The CM also interacted with government railway police (GRP) officers, who stressed the need for a better command structure for coordinating efforts between GRP and railway police.
“I will also ask officials to install more cameras and enhance the security systems around stations,” Fadnavis said. At a review meeting in November, the CM had asked railway officials to evolve a plan to uplift area in and around railway stations.
“In an overcrowded train, a commuter got up to give me his seat,” the CM said, adding, “Many commuters requested to be photographed with me, some even sought autographs,” Fadnavis said. The CM did not disappoint his audience.
The CM’s media adviser Ravikiran Deshmukh said, “Excited commuters even got their family members to speak over the phone. He obliged.” For the record, the CMO had purchased ten first-class tickets for continued…
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