Deaths on Mumbai Suburban Rail Network

The Central-Exchequer has been generous with budget grants to the Indian Railways but a lot of it is being spent on non-critical infrastructure. I hope the tragic deaths of these #commuters will be a wake-up call to planners in the Rail Bhawan, who will do well to prioritise investments and attention to essential infrastructure and safety rather than spit-and-polish

By Shubhranshu

The recent deaths of four-six passengers due to their fall from a running local train has attracted attention nationwide and evoked a justifiable outrage. Railways are being blamed—as always. #Railways, on the other hand, blame overcrowding. In other words, nobody is responsible for such cruel loss of lives just the same way as none has been held accountable for the deaths of eighteen pilgrims in a #stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station.

As a former Chief Safety Officer (#CSO) on Central Railway, I can vouch that the situation is far grimmer than what these four deaths indicate. There were an average of 15-16 deaths every day on the Mumbai Suburban Network, 9-10 on the Central Railway and 5-6 on the Western Railway in the years 2015-16 though things may have improved of late.

Most of the deaths occur when people crossing railway tracks are hit by a train, or when they fall from running trains. Many of those, who fall, especially the youngsters, are often killed during stunts like hanging out precariously or trying to touch every signal post or every #OHE-mast as a game of challenge. Cases of passengers falling between the train and the platform, a common cause of deaths years ago, have been eliminated by raising the Mumbai suburban platforms uniformly to close the gap.

Air-Conditioned EMUs for Suburban Services

Later, when I was the Principle Chief Mechanical Engineer (#PCME) at #ICF/Perambur, we made the first air-conditioned #EMU for #WesternRailway suburban services. I believe many more have been built and supplied after that. The air-conditioning capacity had to be especially designed to take care of an average load of 300-400 passengers per coach as compared to a maximum of 75-80 per coach for mainline trains. Besides, frequent opening and closing of doors too had to be accounted for.

What if we air-conditioned all EMUs?

Air-conditioning cannot be retrofitted. It can only be built into new rakes. The first EMU that the ICF supplied was not put into operation for several months since its fare structure and timetable could not be decided. Finally, it was allowed to run during off-peak hours on the “fast-line”, i.e. with minimum stoppages.

An EMU train, whether on fast or slow line, stops at a station for merely 15-20 seconds. Commuters of Mumbai have got used to this and quickly disembark and new #Passengers board during this short stop. Stoppages are shorter than those written in the timetable since that is the only way overloaded trains can make time during run.

An air-conditioned EMU, on the other hand, will need much longer dwell time at platforms – doors must open, passengers disembark and board, doors must then close. Many a times doors are obstructed due to the crowd and the train control system has to repeatedly attempt closing them. Since the train control is interlocked with the doors, it won’t permit the train to start unless all doors are firmly closed. Time taken in this process is about 50-60 seconds. While this may not seem long, over twenty stops it will add up to an additional 40×20 or 800 seconds, or 13-15 minutes. This may appear an acceptable delay in view of #safety, average speeds will drop and will hold-up even the non-AC trains that follow the AC one on the same track. As a result the entire network will slow down and throughput in terms of passengers-per-hour will drop drastically, especially during peak hours.

A Knee Jerk Reaction – Retrofit Automatic Doors on All Trains

The initial order to retrofit automatic doors on existing trains has now been moderated and only new builds are mandated to have automatic doors. An air-conditioned EMU is a totally different genre than a regular non-AC one. It requires the train to have a Train Area Network, typically on Ethernet, running along the entire length. Then each door must be linked to this network, typically through serial port on a coach-level network segment.

The air-conditioning system, called the #HVAC, too is connected to the same train network, and so on. In this regard an AC EMUs in not much different than a Vande Bharat Express. There is no way automatic doors can be retrofitted in an existing rake that was not built with this feature. Yes, all of these can be replaced, quickly or gradually, with air-conditioned rakes. New non-AC trains may also be fitted with automatic doors. But then we must be ready to accept a lower passenger throughput per hour in both cases – AC and non-AC. Automatic doors were attempted about two decades ago on the orders of the Supreme Court but were found too cumbersome in realisation.

Why Bash the Indian Railways All the Time?

Railways have been trying to meet the ever increasing demands on its network with longer, faster, and more frequent train services. This accommodation cannot continue endlessly. A 3-4 minute headway has already been achieved. Some armchair consultants recommend reducing it to 2 minutes or even shorter. Little do they realise that it takes about 4 minutes for a trainload of 4000 passengers to disembark at the terminal stations and new passengers to board. No signal system, or software optimisation can compress this time without risking stampedes everyday.

It is expected that the Mumbai’s new metro system being built will take some load off the suburban railway, though not significantly. The #IndianRailways’ suburban service is the cheapest #transportation system anywhere in the world. There will always be enough patrons, rich, middle-class, and poor, to keep the 80-lakh-a-day crowd largely unaffected. Besides, air-conditioned (or automatic door closing) trains will still not address the deaths of careless people crossing tracks, which continue unabated despite counselling and campaigns to educate them.

An Easy and Quick Solution – Why Not Stagger Office Timings?

A real and workable solution that can be quickly implemented lies in the court of the State and Local Governments. Office, School, College and shops-and-establishment hours need to be staggered along and across the city. Enough data exists with the Railways and the #State-Government to make an intelligent plan with minimal disruption to businesses and offices. This has been discussed endlessly for decades but no workable and effective solution has yet been put into force.

Why Not Run Longer Trains?

Railways have converted all 9-car trains to 12-car over the last few years. Some trains even have 15-car formations, but they are constrained by absence of 15-car platforms at most of the stations along the route. They, therefore, run with fewer stops on the fast line and preferably during off-peak hours.

Can’t we convert all platforms to accommodate 15-coach EMUs? Yes, we can. It, however, involves a lot more than merely making the platforms longer by some masonry work – loop lengths must be made longer, crossings, switches, and signals will need to be shifted. All that can be done in a matter of 3-5 years provided we get down to it. 

The #Central-Exchequer has been generous with budget grants to the #IndianRailways but a lot of it is being spent on non-critical #infrastructure. I hope the tragic deaths of these #commuters will be a wake-up call to #planners in the #RailBhawan, who will do well to prioritise investments and attention to essential infrastructure and safety rather than spit-and-polish.

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