A report by Rajendra B. Aklekar
"They run without doors?" was the first reaction of
the alarmed Christian Wolmar, British transport expert, rail historian, author,
journalist and the 2016 London mayoral candidate when he saw a crowded suburban
local train pulling out of Churchgate station in Mumbai on his day-long visit.
Wolmar was in Mumbai as a part of his India tour for his new
book on Indian Railways. Fascinated with trains and railways like me, Wolmar,
first started as a transport journalist with The Independent and has been writing on transport issues since 1992.
The award winning writer and broadcaster is also the author of a series of
books on railway history. He was at Churchgate and Mumbai CST and spoke about a
host of transport issues.
Earlier on his arrival, one the first photos that he had
taken in Mumbai was that of the double-decker bus, calling it a “dishevelled
Mumbai double decker with a platform at the back” tagging the Mayor of London,
in his tweet. And he was correct as the Mumbai double deckers have been a
British legacy and the last 120 buses that remain are diluted versions of the original
Routemasters.
As I caught up with him at the Taj, Mumbai, he had bought for
me a personally signed copy of the Iron
Road, a fascinating account of hidden stories of railway history from the
early steam train days to the high-speed bullet trains of today, a book
authored by him that I had always wanted. It was quite an honour to get a copy from
the person himself and that too a signed one. As the conversation moved to
trains and railways, I suggested he should take a look at the city's two
biggest rail terminii in Mumbai-- Churchgate and Mumbai CST and he readily
agreed.
We hopped into cab (after refusals from a few) and reached
Churchgate station. It was a Saturday evening and crowds were thin, but still
good enough as there had been a few train delays. After examining the automatic
ticket vending machines with the suburban maps on them, we got a platform
ticket and entered the platform, walking to the other end as he wanted to take
a good look at the trains entering and leaving the station. Technically, a
variety of EMU trains were standing next to each other -- a Bombardier class
and a Siemens one.
As we walked back after a brief photo session and as the
train moved, Christian was alarmed that the train had started moving with open
doors. As I explained him later that the
trains here were non-air-conditioned and there were ventilation issues if the
doors got shut, he seemed convinced, but said it was a highly risky affair. “You
die one way or the other, either by suffocation or via open doors,” said he and
was quite stunned to know that about ten people die on the suburban lines of
Mumbai every day. After examining and admiring the functional 1936 British Ransomes
and Rapiers heritage buffers on Churchgate platform, we took the pedestrian
subway to crossover to the Western Railway headquarters building.
“There is chaos, crowd and people everywhere, but things in
India are always at their functional best. This is the best part of the
country,” he said as we walked the subway, half of it occupied by hawkers, half
of it under repairs.
The next stop was the Churchgate heritage building. Since the
offices and the heritage gallery are shut on the weekend, we were not allowed
to enter the building premise but Christian was quite impressed by the Bilimora-Waghai
(Gujarat) railway’s steam engine on display in the building premise. He took a
lot of its pics of it saying, “it’s built in Stafford,” and tweeted one immediately,
calling it one for the “grocers”, an informal term for trainspotters or rail
fans.
We decided to walk it up from
Churchgate to Mumbai CST so that we could discuss more of two cities –London and
Mumbai. Walking up from the by-lanes of Fort and reaching Mumbai CST discussing
about traffic and problems, he said Mumbai needs to encourage public transport
more and that more Metro lines will be of help. “The Monorail is quite an out-dated
mode of transit and I don’t know why Mumbai is getting one, he wondered.
At Mumbai CST, after a few photographs of the DC and AC suburban
trains in one premise, the Star Chamber and the jumble of train indicators, he
was quite moved with the pictures of unidentified bodies that had been put up
by the railway police at the station. “It’s quite disturbing thing, isn’t it?” Wolmar
had a train to catch the next day early morning to the south and after the
photos sessions, we soon decided to end the adventure. On his way back to the
Taj, Christian Wolmar had one thing to say about Mumbai railway- just
fascinating!
As I caught up with him at the Taj, Mumbai, he had bought for
me a personally signed copy of the Iron
Road, a fascinating account of hidden stories of railway history from the
early steam train days to the high-speed bullet trains of today, a book
authored by him that I had always wanted. It was quite an honour to get a copy from
the person himself and that too a signed one. As the conversation moved to
trains and railways, I suggested he should take a look at the city's two
biggest rail terminii in Mumbai-- Churchgate and Mumbai CST and he readily
agreed. 
We decided to walk it up from
Churchgate to Mumbai CST so that we could discuss more of two cities –London and
Mumbai. Walking up from the by-lanes of Fort and reaching Mumbai CST discussing
about traffic and problems, he said Mumbai needs to encourage public transport
more and that more Metro lines will be of help. “The Monorail is quite an out-dated
mode of transit and I don’t know why Mumbai is getting one, he wondered. 
