13-06-2025
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.
