Mumbai Suburban Railway consists of exclusive inner suburban railway lines augmented by commuter rail on main lines serving outlying suburbs to serve the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Spread over 465 kilometres the suburban railway operates 2,342 train services and carries more than 7.5 million commuters daily. By annual ridership (2.64 billion), the Mumbai Suburban Railway is one of the busiest commuter rail systems in the world.
This is the documentary-cum-series that StarTimes is airing as it sheds light into the operations of this busy railway system.
With up to 14 people packed into a square metre, the Mumbai railway system is twice as busy as European rush hour trains. It’s so busy a special phrase is used to describe it-“super dense crush load”.
The presenters try commuting Mumbai-style for themselves, crushing on board the rush hour trains. The control room team reveal the secrets of the Train Management System that plans safe routes for 1500 daily trains through the station complex.
Behind the scenes we see inside the drivers’ lounge, the laundry that processes 25,000 bed sheets each day,and the 86 acre repair facility that overhauls 3000 carriages a year.
This documentary is currently airing on StarTimes channel DTT 230 and channel DTH 227 every Thursday staring at 9.50pm.