Neeta Tondwalkar is like thousands of others making a living in Mumbai. Every morning, as she leaves her Worli home at 5.30 am to go to work, she would blend into a crowd as she boards her bus to her workplace at Mumbai Central. A couple of people may glance again because she is visually impaired, but other than that Tondwalkar's journey is uneventful. It is only when she enters her workplace, which is Mumbai Central station and walks into the announcer's room to sit behind the microphone, do we realise that Tondwalkar is one of the voices of Mumbai's rail system.

Mumbai has over 70 million commuters every day and announcers such as Tondwalkar are responsible for the services to move as per schedule. One can even say that railway announcers are the lifeline of the railway, just as the railways are the lifeline of Mumbai.

The Western, Central and Harbour lines of Mumbai's suburban rail network have an automated system that tells commuters the details of local trains arriving into a platform. However, in case of delay or a change of platform, it is announcers such as Tondwalkar, who ensure that Mumbaikars are not totally hassled because of the change in schedule."I have been working with the Western Railway for 13 years. We were trained in voice modulation by senior officers before we were given access to the microphone," says Tondwalkar, while taking a break between announcements.

Being visually impaired doesn't hamper Tondwalkar's life. After her shift ends at 2 pm, she goes home, cleans it up and then goes for a walk in the evening to buy provisions for the next day. After an early dinner by 7.30 pm, Tondwalkar calls it a day at 9 pm. "It's a good day, usually. I feel satisfied that I've done my duty," she laughs.

Unlike Tondwalkar, who has been in the industry for 14 years, Prakash Kurbet, who is the chief announcer at Dadar station, joined the Central Railway in 1984. "I became an announcer in 1987 and have had stints at Mumbai CST and Dadar stations," he said.

Kurbet attributes his becoming an announcer to JBS Brownson, who is Mumbai's first announcer. "Brownson taught us everything and even wrote a rulebook for railway announcers. During our initial days, we were trained by staff members at All India Radio (AIR)," added Kurbet.

Kurbet is scheduled to retire in January, 2016. "After retirement, I have been approached by Patromics, a Pune-based firm to improve their announcement system. It's going to be an interesting, yet challenging assignment," he concludes.

Although most of the announcements for the suburban rail services are computerised, the announcers are needed when there are delays in local and main line services. While the Western Railway has announcers at Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Dadar, Andheri and Borivali, Central Railway has a number of staff deployed at CST, Byculla, Dadar, Thane, Dombivli and Kalyan. These announcers deal with over 150 main line services and over 2600 suburban services on both lines.

Yellow strap: Railway announcers have three shifts, each comprising eight hours – 6 am to 2pm, 2pm to 10 pm, and 10 pm to 6 am