Aren't You Glad You Don't Ride the Mumbai Train?
India is a magical place, I've been told, but also a place where the Malthusian images of overcrowding can be pretty scary. I found out this morning when I read a story in the Wall St. Journal by Eric Bellman about the crowded and deadly commuter trains of Mumbai.
He quoted a straphanger named Malwankar, who said that once or twice a month he sees people killed or injured on the tracks. The stations now stock sheets to cover bodies found on the tracks or the platform. The Mumbai system packs 550 people into a car built for 200. On average, 13 people are killed each weekday either from scrambling across the tracks, tumbling off packed trains, slipping off platforms or sticking their heads out open windows for air.
"The trains that pull into Malwankar's end-of-the-line station are already full. That's because commuters have started taking them in the wrong direction so they can grab seats when the trains turn around. Two hours after leaving his apartment, in temperatures that can reach 104 degrees in the summer, he finally has just a five minute walk to work."
He quoted a straphanger named Malwankar, who said that once or twice a month he sees people killed or injured on the tracks. The stations now stock sheets to cover bodies found on the tracks or the platform. The Mumbai system packs 550 people into a car built for 200. On average, 13 people are killed each weekday either from scrambling across the tracks, tumbling off packed trains, slipping off platforms or sticking their heads out open windows for air.
"The trains that pull into Malwankar's end-of-the-line station are already full. That's because commuters have started taking them in the wrong direction so they can grab seats when the trains turn around. Two hours after leaving his apartment, in temperatures that can reach 104 degrees in the summer, he finally has just a five minute walk to work."
posted by Max Hartshorne at 10:28 AM
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