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ShareMumbai: You are not a Mumbaikar if you haven't travelled by a local train at least once. In no other city in the world is the relation between citizens and trains as intimate as it is in Mumbai.
It is an intimacy born of dependence: that the railway lines are Mumbai's lifeline is a cliché. But it is a cliché because this city's very growth, its very sprouting of far-flung suburbs is a reality because those who reside as far as 60 km away can get to office every morning, day after day, by local train.
Mumbai's trains are among the most densely-packed, with each coach carrying over 500 persons at peak hours (thus, one local would have about 5,000 commuters). Yet, within these traumatic conditions, commuters have formed friendships and strong bonds, linked to each other simply by the fact that they catch a particular train, and site next to each other.
Women share their problems and offer help to each other, and inquire should one of them not turn up for a day; men form groups that sing bhajans to playing cards. For all of them: they just don't catch a local; they need to catch a specific local so that others at later stations know just where to meet the group.
Despite the many problems that Mumbaikars face in their daily commute, the fact is that Mumbaikars trust their locals, even during the worst of times. When political parties calls for bandhs, Mumbaikars step out knowing that there is a chance that the trains are running. Conversely, political groups know that the best way to stop Mumbai is to stop the local trains.
