Overcrowded trains are hardly a novelty for Mumbai. But on July 4, in an unusual incident, a 6.06 pm Churchgate-Bhayandar air-conditioned local got held up at Andheri station for a good four minutes because of this factor. Such was the congestion within that it blocked the functioning of the door-closing mechanism, on account of which the train was unable to move.

Jampacked AC train creates chaos, delay at Andheri station Jampacked AC train creates chaos, delay at Andheri station The AC local was scheduled to reach Andheri station at 6.42 pm but according to Western Railway (WR) officials, it arrived at 6.57 pm. The coach was full to the brim, and the situation was such that WR authorities, for the first time, had to deploy staff to push commuters inside to enable the doors to close.

“Bags were a big obstruction—even if we managed to push people inside, their bags were hanging out of the doors,” said a WR staffer. “We even requested commuters to alight and catch the next train, but as there are few AC local trains, they refused to listen. Even though there was no visible space inside the train, more and more people were trying to enter the coach.”