More seats for seniors, less space for luggage in WR trains
MUMBAI: After doing some careful number-crunching, the Western Railway (WR) will modify and convert one of the two luggage compartments in each of its trains, to augment seating for senior citizens. This would double the number of seats for seniors in each train from the present 14.
The move is in line with an order of the Bombay High Court, which ruled last year that the Indian Railways must allow seniors to travel in the luggage compartments of local trains. The order was given on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which sought dedicated compartments for senior citizens. The PIL said around 50,000 seniors commute daily in local trains.
To implement the court order, the Western Railway will modify the seventh coach from the Churchgate end in its fleet of 110 non-air-conditioned trains. This would be a 'Senior Citizens' compartment, railway sources said, adding that each coach would be fitted with 14 seats.
A senior railway official said modifying all the luggage compartments would cost ₹5.40 crore. 'Tenders have been invited for the work, which will be carried out at the Mumbai Central and Virar car sheds. We will retain the second luggage and vendor compartment in each train. This modification will be executed in a phased manner and should be completed within a year,' said a WR official.
At present, each suburban local train on the Western Railway has 14 seats dedicated to senior citizens – seven each in the third and twelfth coaches from the Churchgate end. None of these seats is in the compartments reserved for women. Significantly, luggage-turned-seniors' coach too will be a 'general' class compartment.
On losing one luggage compartment in each train, a senior railway official said there has been a sharp decline in the number of commuters travelling with luggage or large parcels over the years. It's only Mumbai's dabbawallas, who deliver thousands of lunch boxes to customers across the city, every day, that still use this compartment. But even their numbers have dwindled.
'There are barely 2,000 dabbawalas left in the profession, down from 5,000 in pre-Covid times. They used to ferry 75,000-1,00,000 lunch boxes in the pre-pandemic era, which is down to around half that number now. We hope the railway will allow us to travel inside this (modified) luggage compartment at specific times in the day,' said Subhash Talekar, president, Mumbai Dabbawala Association.
Luggage compartments occupy 6.18% area in a 12-coach train but carry only 0.32% of passenger load. In contrast, general class compartments occupy 71% of area in a train but carry 90% of passengers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
9 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Is time ‘moving faster' for you too? There's a reason you feel this way, says Charles Assisi
Each time my editor at the Hindustan Times, Zara Murao, reminds me that it's time to write this column, we both laugh and shudder at once. Has it been two weeks already? Wasn't it just the other day she reminded me of my last deadline? It's the middle of the year already; how did it pass by so fast? An astronomical clock in Prague. To make better sense of time, seek out precious or new experiences. As we create memories, time 'stretches', researchers say. (Shutterstock) These aren't the only times this sensation hits. There have been many moments this year when I've looked up from my desk and felt like I've lost entire weeks. A project I started work on 'just the other day' has turned out to be months old. My pile of summer reads has gone untouched. Suddenly, we are well into the monsoon. If you've felt this too — that 2025 is somehow moving faster than usual — you're not alone. And no, this isn't the poetic imagination of tired minds. There is scientific theory, in fact, to explain this experience. One of the most enduring insights in this regard comes from the 19th-century American thinker and psychologist William James. He famously observed that time feels slower when one is younger because we are encountering the world in high-resolution. Everything is new, and our brains are soaking it in. As we create rich, detailed memories, time appears to stretch out (remember the interminable wait to turn seven; I need a minute, now, to remember what year I'm in). As we age, James's theory goes, our routines harden, sameness sets in, and we stop noticing the details. We stop encoding novelty, because there is less of it. When memory is thin, he says, time collapses in retrospect. This is why a new experience, a new place, travel or time spent in groups stands out (and seems to go by more slowly). Since the pandemic, most of us live lives of far greater sameness than we did before Covid-19. Habits have changed, social circles have shrunk. The calendars are full again, but the experiences blur together. We check off tasks, attend meetings, cycle through content. But by the end of the day, we're not quite sure where the time went. It was particularly comforting, and intriguing, to me to hear the clinical psychologist Kuldeep Datay, whom I have known for some years and who is affiliated with the Institute for Psychological Health (IPH) in Mumbai, concur. 'The years do seem to be moving faster,' he said. 'It seems to be a function of two things: the pace of life in our cities, and the sameness of our days. Most of our days are so similar, we can go through them on autopilot.' Sameness of course is a luxury; it indicates stability and ease. But as with anything good, have we breached the limit and ended up with too much? Paired with other aspects of life in the social-media age, have we tipped the scales too far? I believe Kuldeep strikes at the heart of the matter when he speaks of the pace of our cities. Take my younger daughter. She and her pre-teen friends live days filled with new sights, experiences and information. Even their slang is constantly evolving. As their brains record more memories per unit of time, a single afternoon can feel like a week. A school day can feel endless. A summer seems to stretch on for a lifetime (and have half a lifetime's experiences packed into it). Their minds aren't as cluttered with deadlines and calendar entries. They live far more in the present, with little concept of time as a resource. I am already seeing this fade with my elder daughter. Amid schedules and exam stress, her teenage life is more repetitive: classes, homework, endless scrolling. 'This year flew by,' she said to me in December, for what I think was the first time. There is biology and math at play too, as psychologists have pointed out. Proportionality theory, which I find equal parts elegant and sobering, suggests that time appears to speed up as we grow older because each year becomes a smaller fraction of our lived experience. To a 10-year-old, a year is 10% of their life. To a 50-year-old, it is 2%. This, they theorise, is part of why childhood summers lasted longer, and adult Decembers seem to arrive faster each year. Of course, culture plays a crucial role. We live in a world that celebrates speed: 2x video speeds. 10x growth. Rapid iterations. Even rest has become something to optimise. We measure time not by its texture, but by how efficiently it was used. What can we do to course-correct? The answer, ironically, is to deliberately slow down. Not in a vague, Instagram-zen way, but by actively working towards novelty, mindfulness and presence. Be more aware of what you are doing as you do it. Stay in the moment. Make time for moments of nothing: watch the clouds change shape, put the phone down for the duration of a conversation. Feel the fullness of time again. (Charles Assisi is co-founder of Founding Fuel. He can be reached on assisi@
New Indian Express
18 hours ago
- New Indian Express
10 years, 10k participants and 7 lakh checklists: A birding project that drew more people to nature
THRISSUR: In the last decade, around 10,000 people have been part of the Kerala Bird Monitoring Programme and uploaded seven lakh checklists (of birds observed during a 15-minute walk) -- spotting, identifying and documenting common and rare birds in Kerala. So far, 559 species have been recorded in the state, thanks to 34 NGOs and their coordinators, who became part of the initiative out of a sheer interest for birds and nature. It was in 2015 that the Kerala Agriculture University (KAU), backed by Bird Count India and other organisations, including the state forest department, launched the programme, primarily to publish a Bird Atlas -- the first such initiative in the country. Overcoming the challenges thrown up by the 2018 floods and the Covid lockdown, the atlas was published in 2021, in addition to the district atlases for Thrissur, Alappuzha, and Kozhikode.
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Madurai's community water units face uncertain future
Madurai: More than a decade after Madurai corporation rolled out its community safe drinking water initiative, several of its reverse osmosis (RO) water dispensing units have turned defunct, forcing residents to depend on private can suppliers by shelling out nearly five times more. While many are demanding the scheme's revival, some residents feel the improved piped water supply has reduced its necessity. The scheme allowed residents to collect 20 litres of purified water for ₹7 using a prepaid smart card. Each card, priced at ₹60 initially, could be recharged for ₹140 to allow 20 fills a month. Units operated from 7am to 11am and from 4pm to 7pm. However, poor maintenance and lack of regular service rendered almost half of the 15 units in city limits non-functional. Others are operational only sporadically, leaving thousands without access to affordable, clean drinking water. "Now we are forced to buy cans for ₹35–₹40 from private suppliers," said S Santhiyagu, a resident of SS Colony. "One facility here has not supplied water for months, and the nearby unit inside SS Colony is completely shut," he added. Residents allege that private can suppliers are benefiting from the breakdown and even influencing the corporation to delay or abandon the scheme. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo "There seems to be no effort to revive these units," said M Ramesh of Arasaradi. "Until 2021, it was regular. Now, it's been three months since we've had any water from this facility," he added. Only one RO unit near Kochadai is reportedly functioning regularly. The remaining 14 units are either defunct or operational only on select days. The programme, which initially saw a strong public response, especially during the drought years of 2017 to 2019, suffered a setback during Covid-19 pandemic. Footfall at RO units then dropped drastically as many turned to piped supply, which improved in most parts of the city. Now, with Mullaperiyar drinking water scheme set to cover the city, activists believe there is less scope to revive the RO programme. "With stable drinking water input expected, the corporation does not need to activate RO units. If they don't want to revive the programme, they should at least dismantle them and put the land to better use," said civic activist T Nageshwaran. "The one at Mattuthavani bus stand is still not functioning properly," he said. A senior corporation official said revenue for the private operator was too low under the current pricing model. "We revised the contracts, but it's difficult for operators to sustain at ₹7 per 20 litre. If we revise the pricing, more bidders might come forward." Corporation commissioner Chitra Vijayan said she would look into the issue and take necessary steps.
