Ahh i travelled by the Millenium Rake today, the new train which the western railway has introduced in Mumbai. Must say the journey was much more comfortable in this train, though the crowd remained the same. The good part of catching a train from Churchgate at peak hours is that, if one learns how to get on the train before it halts at the station then that person is assured of a seat. I have mastered this art form over the past few months. So today i perched my ass on the seat next to the window seat. There are extra fans , an excellent ventillation system and lots of lighting. So even the long, arduous journey has an element of comfort just cause the train is clean and bright. Though the travelling conditions remain the same , with recent research suggesting that even cattle travel in better conditions than humans in a Mumbai local train. The windows coupled with the excellent ventilation system allow a lot more fresh air inside than before. Also there is an annoucement inside the compartment about the approaching station. To someone living abroad , these must be basic hygiene factors but for India this is novelty. The western railway plans to introduce 6 more such trains next year and gradually change its entire fleet in the coming years.
But this change is simply superficial, what Mumbai needs desperately is another transit system. Talks have been going on since time immemorial about sky bus or the metro, but nothing concrete has surfaced. If in another 5 years a new transit system is not introduced people might end up spending upto 4 hours a day just on travelling daily. Already on an average a working citizen of Mumbai must be spending 2 to 2 & 1/2 hours a day travelling. However setting up an alternate system of transit will have to be an engineering miracle. The city has severe resource crunch and land is at a premium. Though i am not an engineer i can envisage one solution that might work. Since both the western and central railways already have so much land occupied and a network across the city , if we have a sky bus service running over the tracks parallel to them and construct another floor above the existing stations then we will automatically double the capacity. Also there will be no need to occupy more land which is already a scarce resource in this city and also no need for evacuations.
So in the end , my journey was nice and comfortable and now i am retiring to my books.
cheers
But this change is simply superficial, what Mumbai needs desperately is another transit system. Talks have been going on since time immemorial about sky bus or the metro, but nothing concrete has surfaced. If in another 5 years a new transit system is not introduced people might end up spending upto 4 hours a day just on travelling daily. Already on an average a working citizen of Mumbai must be spending 2 to 2 & 1/2 hours a day travelling. However setting up an alternate system of transit will have to be an engineering miracle. The city has severe resource crunch and land is at a premium. Though i am not an engineer i can envisage one solution that might work. Since both the western and central railways already have so much land occupied and a network across the city , if we have a sky bus service running over the tracks parallel to them and construct another floor above the existing stations then we will automatically double the capacity. Also there will be no need to occupy more land which is already a scarce resource in this city and also no need for evacuations.
So in the end , my journey was nice and comfortable and now i am retiring to my books.
cheers
1 comment:
Thanks.. Well the weather conditions in our country is such that one has to sweat and no amount of deo is going to help. Thes situation will be same in Europe also if they had our kind of weather..
cheers
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