ByA frequent announcement at railway stations and on local trains is a warning, asking people to not travel on footboards or lean out of running trains. What nobody tells you is that you are no better off inside the compartment either. Mumbai locals have now become so crowded and their ventilation mechanisms are so poorly maintained that the resultant suffocation is triggering heart attacks and other respiratory complications.This year alone, more than 400 commuters have died of heart attacks and seizures, triggered in a majority of cases by suffocation. A majority of these deaths took place during the peak hours.The railways categorise these deaths as ‘other’ in their records. Which means these deaths don’t include those run over by trains or commuters who died after falling off trains. “These deaths were caused by commuters taking ill on board crowded locals.A majority of these deaths were caused by breathlessness that triggered an underlying medical condition,” said a senior railway official who did not wish to be identified. An investigation carried out by Mumbai Mirror during the morning and evening peak hours on both Central Railway and Western Railway revealed that roof-mounted ventilators, introduced in 2007 to improve air flow into train compartments, don’t work in almost 80 per cent of trains.This correspondent, over a period of one week, travelled in secondclass compartments of 10 locals on the Central Railway’s Main Line (five during the morning peak hours and five during the evening), and found that ventilators were not functioning in eight of these trains. The situation was no better on the Western line. Of the eight locals checked by this correspondent on the Western Line, six had non-functional ventilators.Each compartment in a Mumbai local has the capacity to carry 110 people. Which means, ideally, 1,320 people should travel in a single 12-coach train. But during peak hours a single train carries up to 4,800 people. In railways’ terminology, it is referred to as super-dense crush or 16 people in an area of 1 sq metre.Dr Vijay Sevak, director, Arogya Hospital, which runs an emergency medical room at the Thane railway station, said that at least five commuters are brought to the medical room with complaints of suffocation and breathing problems every day (see case studies). “On an average, around 12 commuters visit this emergency room every day, of which at least five complain of suffocation and breathlessness,” Sevak said.The railway sources said that this year of the 410 deaths on trains, presumed to be triggered by suffocation, 85 occurred in Kalyan (Central Railway), and 39 in Vasai (Western Railway).Raju Dialani, 45. A real estate consultant and resident of Bhandup, felt breathless after boarding a CST local from Dombivali in the morning rush hour on Tuesday. He was in such a bad shape that he called a friend to reach Thane station as soon as possible. The friend rushed him to the emergency medical room where he was given firstaid and referred to a private hospital.“The compartment was crammed with people and within minutes I experienced suffocation. As it got worse, I tried getting off at Kalwa, a station before Thane, but wasn’t able to because of the crowds. I thought I might suffer a heart attack. I finally managed to get off at Thane,” said Dialani.Sudhir Katdare, a businessman and a resident of Kalyan, was brought into the medical room at Thane at 9.15 am. He was complaining of breathlessness and dizziness. “I am a daily commuter and quite used to the rush. But today I suddenly found it hard to breathe. I think there was some problem with the train’s ventilation system,” he said.A senior Central Railway official, who did not wish to be identified, said that the root cause of the problem is the Siemens rakes which have “faulty ventilation system”. Ironically, these rakes were purchased in 2007 to resolve the ventilation problem that existed in BHEL-made rakes.Mumbai’s combined suburban network comprises 205 rakes, of which 129 are Siemens rakes. There are 11 Bombardier rakes and all of them have ventilators in working condition.While Western Railway officials admitted there was a problem, their Central Railway counterparts said that all was well on their trains. Divisional Railway Manager (Central Railway, Mumbai) Amitabh Ojha said: “There were complaints regarding ventilation on trains and we changed the panels inside the trains. Every 10 days, all CR rakes are checked and snags are repaired.”Western Railway divisional railway manager Shailendra Kumar the said that of the Western Railway’s fleet of 94 rakes, at least 25% had ventilation problems. “We are working on fixing the problem,” he said.