00:01This is happening in the city that contributes 5% to the country's GDP.
00:06Mumbaikers go through this every day,
00:08overcrowding, chaos and sometimes actual fights.
00:11On June 9, four passengers fell from overcrowded coaches
00:15and died while travelling on Mumbai's suburban rain network.
00:18And when automatic doors on AC locals were introduced,
00:21it seemed like a step forward.
00:23The doors open only when the train stops,
00:25reducing the risk of accidents.
00:27But this is what happened.
00:29Passengers broke the system, literally.
00:33These incidents are often rushed aside with phrases like
00:36the Mumbai spirit or resilience.
00:38But calling it resilience doesn't change the fact
00:40that the city's suburban railway system
00:42falls well short of what its people actually require.
00:45Mumbai's local trains carry over 75 lakh passengers every day.
00:49The system was built decades ago,
00:51but the number of users has more than doubled since.
00:54A regular commuter remembers being sandwiched by 8 women
00:57in the ladies' compartment.
00:58Once, her shirt tore while trying to board.
01:00She's had to ride the footboard and jump mid-run
01:03to grab the handle or someone's arm just to stay on.
01:06It's daily life for many and it gets worse when it rains.
01:09During monsoons, subways flood, stations get water-locked
01:13and passengers wade through it.
01:15This despite a share of Rs 15,000 crores or 88%,
01:18which has been allocated for water resources management
01:21and mitigation of urban flooding in Mumbai.
01:23So what's going wrong?
01:24Let's talk about infrastructure.
01:26To fix these issues, the Mumbai Urban Transport Project or MUTP was launched.
01:31Phases 1 and 2 helped add new trains.
01:34But Phase 3 cleared in 2016 and still not complete.
01:38Phase 4 worth Rs 33,000 crores and stuck in land acquisition and red tape.
01:43Meanwhile, the crowd keeps growing and so does the gap between policy and practice.
01:48This is the financial capital of India and yet people who drive this economy
01:53can't get into a train without a fight.
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