The Bombay high court on Wednesday suggested “all standing” compartments on an experimental basis to reduce the overcrowding in suburban trains in Mumbai. Hearing a suo motu public interest litigation about senior citizens facing problems to board trains due to overcrowding, a division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice S B Shukre asked the railways to consider appointing a private agency to conduct a survey on commuting patterns and suggest crowd management techniques.
The PIL, based on a letter written to the HC by a senior citizen A B Thakkar, had claimed over 38,000 senior citizens travel daily on suburban trains. The court was earlier informed that though a compartment has a capacity of 86 commuters, there are over 500 persons in each coach during peak hours. The railways had said it had increased seats reserved for senior citizens from seven, to 14. Agreeing that during peak hours it was impossible to board a train or reach a reserved seat, during earlier hearings the judges had suggested various measures – double decker trains, implementing staggered work hours for staff, especially in government offices and special compartments for senior citizens.
The HC suggested that the railways should consider “all standing” compartments, atleast one in each train rake, on a pilot basis to check the results. The court also asked whether a compartment for senior citizens could be reserved in special ladies trains that are run by railways. The court has given the railways time till November 18 to respond to its suggestions.