Local trains of Mumbai, India's biggest city

Where pushing is mandatory and screaming is even more

On Feb ‘15 I moved to Mumbai, the biggest city of India, to have a one year work experience in a tech startup.

I reached Mumbai on a Monday around 5am and waited nearly one hour on the airport till the person in charge of me appeared to pick me up (the immigration process was faster than expected). We took a cab and were having a cordial conversation while on the way to my new temporary home, located in a neighbourhood called Juhu, when he suddenly mentioned:

Jef, you’ll have to take the local train to go to work. When I shifted to Mumbai I thought I wouldn’t manage it, but don’t worry, you will.

This particular comment got my attention. After 2 days I started working, before going I asked my Indian flatmates in Juhu about the local trains, they said I’d better find another way to commute.

It was a Wednesday morning, I went to the nearest railway station, Andheri. I was alone. The first challenge was to buy the ticket, almost everybody speaks English over here, but their accent is a way different than mine. My company is located in Goregaon, two stations away form Andheri. I had to repeat Góregon, Goregon, Gorgon, and finally Goregaon many times till the ticket seller understood me.

After buying the ticket the challenge was to find the right platform. There are 9 in Andheri and they look like a maze for a newcomer. Luckily people in Mumbai are really helpful and someone showed me the way.

Once in the platform you stand in the sun. It was a really hot day, the sun was burning—in Mumbai there is no such thing as winter — but I had to wait not more than 4 minutes, trains are very frequent here.

As a matter of curiosity, a total of 690 trains leaves and arrives at Mumbai CST — the headquarters of the central railway of Mumbai — in one single day (mumbailifeline.com).

There were a lot of people on the platform waiting for the same train, some of them were staying on the border of the rails and stretching their necks to check if the train was arriving. You know it is coming when all of them step backwards at the same time.

The train arrived

Crowded is not enough to describe it. People were literally outside of the doors. More impressive, they were jumping out of the train and jumping in before it even stopped. I was impressed (and scared).

Well, I had to board. The train had already stopped and crowds of people were on each door getting in and out at the same time pushing each other and screaming. I didn’t really know how I would manage to get inside. The only thought I had was: “If they fit, I fit.”

I went to the nearest door and the crowd actually pushed me in. Not that hard. Once inside the train I started sliding between the people trying to find a more comfortable place. There wasn’t, no way to be comfortable, no way to seat, but still fine.

On the end of that day, I actually thought that people were exaggerating about how hard it is to deal with Mumbai trains. My coworkers would get impressed by hearing that a foreigner could manage the local trains of Mumbai. I did it for the entire month and it seemed to be fine.

Fine, until…

By the end of February, I moved to my permanent place in Mumbai. It is in a neighbourhood called Kandivali. The exact opposite side from my work if compared to Andheri.

The thing is that most of the people on the city go towards Andheri on the rush time. Which means that I was going in opposite direction of the mass everyday. I had no idea that I wasn’t experiencing a really crowded Mumbai train, that whole month from Andheri to Goregaon was something considered normal.

On my first working day after shifting to Kandivali I went to the train station at 9am again, and seriously, I could only get inside a train after 10:20. I waited for 1 hour and 20 minutes, walking the entire platform to check if there was some place with less people. No way, everywhere was extremely crowded.

Luckily my company is flexible with time, we can arrive anytime between 9am and 11am. After that day I had to start managing to take the train either before 9am or after 10:20am.

The Day I Thought It Was My Last

On an average, about 2000 people die annually on the Mumbai Suburban Rail network — Wikipedia

Once I was running out of time to reach office, I ran to the train platform and saw one of those super crowded trains. I had to go, no other option.

There are some basic habits while boarding a train in Mumbai, which includes putting your wallet in your backpack and your backpack on the front side of your body. I forgot.

I saw a gap of people in the door and jumped in, I could stay there, I was holding in the door.

My bag was completely outside though, and the two people I jumped in between were somehow pressing my bag. Then I though it was better and safer to get down and take the next train, it still wasn’t moving. I couldn’t go with my bag outside of the train, because it could easily hit one of the columns supporting structures besides the rail.

I tried to get down, but I couldn’t move! Before I asked someone to give me space the train start moving. Too late. I knew I just couldn't keep going with my bag outside of the train.

I tried to remove it from one of my arms. I couldn’t. Same thing on the other arm. I asked for space, but no one could move. We were compressed.

I started moving from one side to another and pushing people inside the train like crazy, somehow my bag came inside. I could then move a little insider in the train. With lots of effort I removed my bag and put it in front of me. By lots of effort I mean, while smashed I removed it, hold it up with my arms, turned around, put it back down again and in a gymnastic way wear it back.

What else?

It turned out that the Mumbai trains became my daily dose of adrenaline. Taking the train everyday before office was a good way to wake up.

Anyway at some point (after 10 months) I decided bus was a better option, it is less crowded and I need to walk around the same distance as if I take train.

Don't be scared in coming to Mumbai because of the local trains, there are many options to commute (I'll write about it soon). Rickshaws and cabs, buses, Uber or Ola Cabs, and even getting free rides with strangers. There are many ways to go around over here.