15 Coach Local

Indian Railway system has its own woes and unique solutions which sometimes take their own time to mature. More complicated is the Local network of Mumbai which has no parallel in the world is what many claim though I fail to see why the issue of free passengers does not equal this to any other railway system of the developing world. Anyway, unique problems demand unique solutions and perhaps the mooting of a 15 coach train is very such attempt. We were just beginning to appreciate the 12 coach train when we are hit with a longer train concept. Any train commuter can swear that the 12 coach trains are normally amusing. Most of the time the indicator fails to communicate this fact. When the first coach is parallel to the platform, suddenly the announcer communicates this fact in a matter of fact tone making all commuters feel guilty. Well not all, mostly the women since their middle compartment does not stop at the same spot as that of the 9 coach train. That makes them sprint. This is the time we see miracle in action. The ones who limped to work late in the morning voicing their woes to ensure the late mark is not done out of sympathy, now find the energy and speed to rush to the spot of the women’s compartment. Some of the ladies already standing there display a smug ‘I knew it all along’ look of a mother-in-law as they daintily step into the compartment while the others come panting. I just wondered, if this is the unique sight offered by a 12 coach train then what scenes shall regale us in the future?

‘Is number of coaches or number of trains the answer?’ my son asked as he unpacked a computer game of a simulated city. I eyed the title of the game secretly and summarized that he must be more knowledgeable than most of the city planners. ‘Since it is mooted by seniors and experts, I am sure they must have thought of that’ I answered him. ‘I thought the Metro and Subway was the answer that the city planners were croaking about when they diverted thousands of crores of the budget to contractors promising us a breezy commute anytime of the day.’ I smiled with him as I too shared the same dream of a breezy commute. ‘Mumbai not being a circle or a square but a peculiar long shape has its own issues with the office area in the south’ I quoted an introduction from the World Bank report. ‘Tomorrow 15 coaches and after that 18…21?’ posed my son. ‘Given the limited imagination of bureaucrats, I expect so’ I told him. ‘Will there be no limit?’ he asked. ‘Did you not see the Dadar station ending at Matunga Road?’ I asked him. ‘You mean when the first coach is in the next station, the last coach is in the previous station?’ he was puzzled. Now my mind went into overdrive as I imagined the future scenario which perhaps no-one in the Railways may have contemplated. ‘Each rake has 3 coaches so the increase of rake increases the coaches by a multiple of 3 – is this simple?’ I asked my son who nodded in ascent. Now I had him agreeing with me so I went for the kill. ’15 to 18 to 21 to 24 coach train will be double of 12 coach train. When half the train is in Dadar the front half will be in Elphinstone road.’ I lectured. ‘But how will it stop?’ ‘Simple’ I answered. ‘Take the example of a double Decker lift. If you want to reach an odd floor, you catch the lift on the first floor while you those going to an even floor catch it on the ground floor. Those wanting to get down at Dadar for example will have to sit (stand) in last 6 compartments. When the train stops, they get down at Dadar while the front 6 compartments at Ephinstone Road will discharge passengers there.’ ‘and the middle 12 compartments?’ my son interrupted. ‘Those will stop at all stations meant to be used for those wanting to reach the Destination station only.’ I answered in utmost confidence.
‘I think you forgot how the train will stop at Churchgate’. My son pointed out. I gulped. ‘The first few compartments will be at Churchgate while the end will be at Marine Lines. Your Final Destination passengers will be in]between.’ He pointed the folly of my design. Not willing to give in this easy, I grasped at a straw, ‘The platform of Churchgate will be extended to cover the middle 6 compartments also and to ease the walking of the commuters, they will place walkways as they have in airports.’ My son mused for a moment and said, ‘instead of all this trains why not link all the stations with walkways and the people will just stand on the walkway and be transported to their destination station.’