In yet another instance of solidarity and timeliness shown by fellow commuters, a 25-year-old pregnant woman delivered a baby boy on a local train on Saturday morning.

Khatunbi Mohammed Sheikh, a resident of Nalasopara, boarded the second class ladies compartment of a Virar-Churchgate fast local from Nalasopara at 9.20am. She was accompanied by her mother-in-law and was headed to the civic-run Bhabha Hospital in Bandra. As the train neared Jogeshwari, Sheikh went into labour. Her mother-in-law alerted the other women commuters in the compartment and they all gathered to help Sheikh while one of them alerted the GRP control room.

The control room informed the Andheri GRP police.

Shivaji Shinde, senior police inspector, Andheri GRP, sent two women constables and a stretcher with four licenced porters to platform no 5 as soon as the train reached Andheri. He also asked the station master to keep an ambulance ready so that Sheikh could be taken to the nearest hospital. However, before the train could reach Andheri, Sheikh delivered the baby with the help of fellow commuters.

“Once at Andheri, the female constables ensured that Sheikh and her newborn were safely transported in an ambulance to Cooper Hospital, Vile Parle,” said Shinde, adding that the mother and child were both in a stable condition.

Not the first train delivery In a similar incident, in September, a 20-year-old pregnant woman and her relative were on a train going to a hospital in Virar when she went into labour on the train. The woman ended up delivering a baby boy on teh train with help of other women commuters.