Mumbai: Train honking drives Bandra, Khar locals to edge of despair

Trains pass from behind the Gaiety-Galaxy cinemas

Vexed by incessant honking from trains thundering behind the Gaiety-Galaxy cinemas track at Bandra West, a clutch of locals from Bandra and Khar met Western Railway General Manager (GM) Alok Kansal on Thursday evening, to apprise him about what they term as auditory assault.

Residents along with Ashish Shelar (third from left) at the meeting

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashish Shelar took the delegation to the GM's office in Churchgate where they met Kansal to alert him about the possibility of mitigating noise levels. Shelar said, "Locals are used to the noise of trains, they have lived with it for years, but since lockdown the honking has become unbearable. Earlier, they were short honks, now the honking is incessant from Bandra to Khar, continual pressure on the horn that has no let up."

Never before
Parsi Colony resident Zameer Palamkote said, "I am a fourth-generation resident and I can state emphatically that the auditory assault through train honking has never been as sustained as it is now. It has amplified since lockdown. We have a majority of senior citizens in our colony with the average age being 70. It is sheer torture for them. Earlier, we may have heard short beeps of the horn, but now there is a continual sound as if somebody is leaning on the horn."

Prior to the meeting, Palamkote claimed that the residents had written to the Railways through different housing societies, to highlight the problem and collectively sent correspondence under the Varde Marg Residents' Association Area Locality Management (ALM No 107) umbrella in November 2020 to Shelar and corporator Swapna Mhatre, stating that the honking was "affecting the well-being of citizens." Palamkote, who is joint chairman of the ALM, had stated in his correspondence that ostensibly the Railways had said that one of the reasons for this incessant honking was to alert trespassers and those who cross tracks about the arrival of trains. "We are supposed to bear the noise because of the rule breakers," said Palamkote, adding that human life was valuable but there are ways to stop trespassing. "The fence near the tracks between Bandra and Khar stations is broken in so many places, allowing people to breach it and cross the tracks. Instead of a fence, a high wall should be constructed along the stretch," he stated.

Peace window
Nikhil Sitwala from Khar West said, "There is peace only for a two-hour window from 2 am to 4 am. By 5 am the noise begins again. I have lived here for decades, earlier the honking was for 5 seconds, now it goes on forever."

Anand Varma and Prashant Bhatt of Jay Bharat Housing Society claimed that the Railways was dubbing the honking as "whistling." They said, "There are so many students and teachers living here. They cannot work on their lessons. We cannot even talk on or hear our phones in the presence of this excessive noise." Bhatt added,

"We are talking about one train, but imagine the cacophony when four trains pass, it is unbearable." Numbers bolster their story as the residents have used a decibel-measuring instrument to show that decibel levels go beyond 90 during peak honking. The Central Pollution Control Board shows permissible noise levels at 55 decibels in the day and 45 at night. Every complainant cites problems like sleep-deprivation and a negative impact on mental well-being as a result of this prolonged honking.

Railways speaks
Alok Kansal, general manager of Western Railway said, "I have assured residents that we are going to examine the issue technically and see what we can do to bring about a feasible solution, and bring the honking within decibel-level limits. We are extremely invested in finding a way to end this problem."