Protest looms as Mumbai commuters demand new rail authority

A joint meeting of eight passenger associations from Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Dahanu, MMR, and Konkan

A joint meeting of eight passenger associations from Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Dahanu, MMR, and Konkan on Saturday discussed the August 22 protest and called for merging Mumbai's railway system into a separate, consolidated body called "Transport for Mumbai" to improve suburban services. Commuter organisations in the city have planned a "white wear" protest on August 22 to highlight extreme crowding, congestion, and inconvenience for Mumbai suburban railway passengers.

"It has been decided to place a number of demands to the railway administration, central government and state government, including giving priority to local trains instead of mail and express, slow works of line expansion should be expedited, in case of a breakdown issue an alert to one and all so that commuters know about it and look for alternatives and form a separate joint authority Transport for Mumbai (ToM) for co-ordination of Mumbai suburban services," Siddhesh Desai, vice-president of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh, one of the oldest and biggest passenger associations, said. A separate body would focus more on the operations of suburban trains, Desai added.

Eight organisations, including Mumbai Rail Passengers Sangh, Federation of Suburban Railway Passengers, Kalwa Parsik Travel Association, Dahanu Palghar Railway Passenger Association, Tejaswini Women Railway Passenger Association, Dombivli Thakurli Kopar Railway Passengers Association, Diva Pravasi Association, and Sangharsh Konkan Railway Passenger Association, have joined forces for the commuters' cause.

"Overcrowding on the Thane-Kalyan stretch is causing significant inconvenience. The Railways should buy new non-AC local trains and extend services beyond Thane and Kalyan. We urge them to extend 15-car services to Titwala and Badlapur, expedite work on the Kalwa-Airoli rail link, and run suburban services on the Diva-Vasai corridor, which was categorised as a suburban section a few years ago," said Lata Argade, president of the Federation of Suburban Railway Passengers.

Railway officials noted that expansion works are already underway in Mumbai. "To reduce congestion in Mumbai suburban corridors, the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-II costing R8,087 crore, MUTP-III costing Rs 10,947 crore, and MUTP-IIIA costing R33,690 crore have been sanctioned to meet future passenger demands. These projects are at various stages of construction," an official said.

Notice issued

The Thane railway police on Sunday slapped notices against the protest planned by commuter organisations on August 22 under Section 168 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) warning them that any disruption of rail services or in passenger movement would invite penal action and that the protesters should convey their demands to railway officials in a democratic manner. The notice stated that any disruption to services or disturbance to passenger movement would lead to further legal action.