Mumbai Local Trains

Local Trains are the major means of transport in Mumbai. Most of the city-dwellers rely on Mumbai Suburban Railway to travel within the metropolis. The extensive network of Railways has three lines, namely the Western Line, the Central Main Line and the Harbour Line. Being a linear city, Mumbai is totally covered by local train network. The area from Churchgate to Virar is covered under the Western line via Western Suburbs, while the Central Main Line starts from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and travels to Kalyan through the Central Suburbs and Thane.

Kurla is the interchange point with the Central Main Line. Between Mumbai CST and Vadala, there is a common stretch of the Harbour Line. However, this line divides into two spurs, the major one heads for the Eastern Suburbs, Navi Mumbai and eventually Panvel, while the other one goes till Mahim on the Western Line and runs parallel upto Andheri. Its interchange stations are sited at Bandra and Andheri.

All the local trains start operations usually after 04:00 hours in the morning and close maximum by 01:00 hours. Traveling in second class is definitely very cheap, but it is exceptionally crowded. For tourists, it is better to travel in the expensive first class, rather than experience any trouble in the economy class. During rush, office or peak hours, one should avoid traveling in local trains because they are jam-packed.

The peak hours extend from 08:30 till 10:30 towards CST and Churchgate and from 17:30 to 20:30 pm in the opposite direction. For women, there are special coaches on both classes in all the trains. They are quite better and safer than the common ones. Local trains are the most common and easy means to travel in the city. In case, there is a group of people, then prefer taxis and auto-rickshaws over local trains in Mumbai.

Western Line Stations	Central Line Stations	Harbour Line Stations
Andheri	Ambernath	Andheri
Bandra	Asangaon	Bandra
Mumbai Central	Badlapur	Kurla
Borivali	Kurla	Chembur
Bhayander	Dadar	Mankhurd
Vasai Road	Dombivali	Thane
Churchgate	Ghatkopar	Vashi
Dadar	Kalyan	Nerul
Goregaon	Khopoli	Belapur
Malad	Kasara	Panvel
Virar	Panvel
	Karjat
	C S T
	Thane
	Titwala

Mumbai Railway Map

Local Train -Life Line of Mumbai

Local trains are the lifeline of Mumbai, the commercial capital of India. The Mumbai local train system is spread over 302 route kilometers. An estimated 6.4 million commuters living in the far-flung suburbs of Mumbai use the local trains daily to travel to their workplace. Riding in crowded Mumbai trains is not for the faint of heart.
For the timid, getting into and off a Mumbai train is close to a life altering experience. Engulfed in a sea of humanity, the hapless commuter just flows with the tide.

The above Photo (taken in 2004) illustrates how crowded and dangerous Mumbai trains can be. In 2006, 3,404 people were killed involving Mumbai trains, according to the Wall Street Journal. Those killed were commuters on the trains, crossing the tracks or slipped off the platform while boarding or getting off extremely crowded trains.

"Accidents are so common that stations stock sheets to cover corpses," Eric Bellman wrote in the Wall Street Journal. In New York state, 127 people are estimated to have been killed in the last five years in train related incidents.

The Journal estimated that the Mumbai commuter network's rail tracks carry 20,000 passengers every day for each kilometer, or 0.62 mile, of rail, surpassing Tokyo where the comparable number is 15,000 people per kilometer.

During peak hours in Mumbai, 550 people travel in a carriage built for 200. We doubt if the cattle cars used to transport poor Jews to concentration camps in Poland and Germany were as crowded.

To make matters worse, hundreds of thousands of Mumbai's poor people live in shanties abutting the railroad tracks.

Mumbai's horrific deaths involving commuter trains is just one more example of the failure of the Indian state to build a basic infrastructure for its people.

Sources:
Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation