Firm ‘thumbs down’ by commuters, groups

Mumbai: The Indian Railways’ purported plans to retrofit automatic doors in all suburban local trains has encountered a firm ‘nyet’ from both the harried commuters and passengers’ organisations.

The proposal was reiterated by Central Railway Chief PRO Swapnil Nila at his media briefing on Monday, hours after the freak tragedy in which several commuters fell from two zooming locals in opposite directions, killing four, plus injuring 9 others.

Nila said that the railways has taken the decision on automatic opening-closing doors to prevent recurrence of similar mishaps, especially among footboard travellers.

Reacting sharply, Rail Yatri Parishad (RYP) President Subhash Gupta said that the CR official is deliberately ‘misguiding’ Mumbaikars as the Railway Minister has already announced that all suburban local trains in Mumbai will be converted to air-conditioned.

“Then where is the question of retrofitting these local trains with automatic doors and what purpose will be served? The CR CPRO is misleading the people instead of making any concrete suggestions,” Gupta told The Perfect Voice.

Thane Railway Pravasi Sanstha (TRRPS) President Nandkumar D. Deshmukh expressed doubts over the proposal, and said that “automatic doors are feasible only for AC trains”.

“The Railway Board members and other bigwigs must commute in Mumbai trains for a few days to understand the commuters’ hazards, plus this idea has flopped once. Unfortunately, the IR is still mired in archaic rules that date back to 1853 (when the country’s first railway started on Mumbai-Thane route),” Deshmukh told The Perfect Voice.

Gupta said instead of resolving the pressing need to increase the carrying capacity and train frequency, “such an idea of automatic doors will actually derail both”.

On an average, a suburban train halts barely 25 seconds at each station, people jump off or inside, even before it fully stops.

“If automatic doors are fitted, the train will need to fully stop, then the doors will open, the commuters will rush out or inside, wait till all the humans are properly accommodated, the automatic doors will shut, then the train can roll. This can take almost 90-100 seconds. This in turn will hugely disturb the train schedules and frequency cannot be increased,” explained Gupta.

Regular suburban commuters like Kiran V., Radhika Pawar, Rajesh Shah and Pradeep Menon rubbished the automatic doors plans as downright ludicrous and impractical – echoing the sentiments of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray on the issue.

“With all doors open, people get suffocated in the jam-packed trains… Imagine the situation when the doors shut… The government will need to provide oxygen cylinders inside the coaches,” said Menon sarcastically.

Women commuters Kiran and Radhika said the automatic doors could provide ‘an extra degree of safety in ladies compartment’, so they can avoid molesters, stone-pelters, chain-mobile-bag snatchers or other pests, “but the stifling conditions will still remain”.

On the other hand, Shah feels that instead of frittering resources on grandiose projects like the Bullet Train, the government should replace all local trains with air-conditioned coaches and reduce the ticket rates besides increasing  the frequency of trains.

‘Save your life, not your job’

Thane: It was on January 3, 2025 that a professional baby-sitter Snehal Kanhaiya Ratate’s life changed – after she got jostled out of a packed ladies’ local train compartment at Dahisar. She suffered considerable head injuries, cuts and bruises, needing expensive treatment for nearly three months. 

At that time, her older sisters Manali Joshi, Priyanka and her husband Kishore Gowale, and others cared for her - and she survived, but lost her well-paying job.

“The Borivali-Virar train was jammed. I had barely a couple of fingers on the handle bar. As the train entered Dahisar, there was an abrupt surge of commuters, I lost my grip, and crashed violently on the platform from the moving train,” Snehal Ratate, 27, recalling the ordeal with a shudder.

Her advice to Mumbaikars: “Avoid hanging out from crowded trains… Remember, you can get the next train or a new job, but not your life…”