By InvitationThe suburban rails are Mumbai’s arteries, but they need to be unblocked.The Mumbai suburban railways form a unique system, without parallel anywhere in the world. Transporting 7.6 million commuters daily, on an at-grade system (not elevated or underground), over the longest commuting distance of 114 km with service hours exceeding 21 hours a day, is no joke. The city has developed organically around the suburban rail and the suburban network has developed in line with the demands of the city, albeit reluctantly.Over a period of time many other commuter systems have evolved — the Metro Rails are the latest — but they all survive and grow as a complement to the suburban railways, not as an alternative. The city has built massive infrastructure such as the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and the Eastern Freeway, and coupled with multilevel parking lots, such projects have facilitated a proliferation of passenger cars. This is not the solution to Mumbai’s problems and is in fact, a retrograde step. A city evolved around public transport is being forced to switch over to personal transport.The main problem of the Mumbai suburban network is that no one is prepared to accept ownership. While GOM, MMRDA and the BMC see it as the Railways’ baby, the Railways sees it as liability, and is happy in maintaining ‘business as usual, particularly after the subject of rail-based urban transport has been transferred to Ministry of Urban Development.The MRVC is the organisation created for this purpose but has no mandate of any kind, except channelling the World Bank’s loan. The other problem is that usually, at the decision-making level, people do not have firsthand experience in commuting on the suburban network over long distances on a daily basis. Even the Suburban Rail Users Consultative Committee (SRUCC) members are mostly elite and collect the demands from the users before coming to a meeting.In my opinion, considering the resources, an ability to implement, and sustainability these measures should take priority:This is perhaps the only short term solution which is cost effective and sustainable. Having been personally associated with the introduction of 15-car rakes on Western Railway and then on Central Railway, I am confident that no infrastructure work will be necessary for the introduction of 10 up to rakes i.e., about 40 to 50 services each way between CST and Kalyan. Additional platform and modern interchange facilities for commuters travelling beyond Kalyan, can be created quickly. After spending so much time and effort on AC-DC conversion the major constraint stands removed. I don’t agree with the contention that 15-car rakes will require speeds to be restricted to 90 kmph.In the long run it is desirable to provide elevated corridors instead of trying to sink money in AC services, CBTC etc. on the surface corridor. With modern construction techniques, it is feasible to build these corridors far more quickly, with much less environmental damage and at a fraction of the cost per commuter compared to Metro Rails.These works should be undertaken at top-most priority.Should be fasttracked.A couple of institutional changes also need to be considered. Firstly, the rules and regulations for Suburban operations should be different than long-distance railways like the Metro.Secondly, the Development Control Rules (DCR) should be amended to declare the station precincts, say about 100mt either side, as regulated development; and while permitting redevelopment the ease of commuters approaching the station by different modes of transport must be kept in mind.Let us hope that the Mumbai suburban network will be restored to its position of pride, so that Mumbai too can maintain its place of pride in the world.