Pranav Birje | Senior Correspondent
Mumbai: After last week’s tragic accident at Mumbra—in which five passengers died and about eleven were seriously injured after falling from a moving local train—public debate has once again intensified over whether ordinary suburban coaches, like their air-conditioned counterparts, should be fitted with automatic “door-closer” systems.
The idea is hardly new. Back in 2014, then-Member of Parliament Gopal Shetty told the Lok Sabha that door-closers were essential on Mumbai’s local trains. Citing chronic overcrowding, he noted that roughly 3,000 people die each year while travelling on the city’s suburban rail network, with a similar number left permanently disabled—many losing limbs and living in pain for the rest of their lives.
Addressing the House at the time, Shetty said installing door-closers in local trains was his foremost election agenda, arguing that the number of rail-travel casualties endured nationwide is matched by those in Mumbai alone—“a matter of deep sorrow and shame,” he said.
Highlighting the plight of women commuters, Shetty added that the dangers faced by women who must board and disembark from moving trains are both “frightening and distressing.” For their safety, he insisted, door-closers are indispensable not only on every local service but also on the city’s ladies-special trains.
Speaking to the media, Shetty called the demand “entirely rational and urgently needed.” Mumbai’s local trains are among the busiest transit systems in the world, carrying millions of passengers daily. Automatic doors, he said, would help riders board and alight safely, reducing the risk of falls and other accidents. “I am delighted,” he added, “that after years of effort the railway administration has finally recognised the necessity of door-closers and given the proposal the green signal.”