Every Mumbaikar dreads the prospect of travelling in a packed local train. You squeeze yourself in between your fellow commuters packed like sardines while the smell of sweat lingers in the air and swear words are exchanged. Well brace yourself, its going to get worse.

Mumbai's locals will soon have Automatic Sliding Doors (ASD). However, the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF), which is constructing the coaches, has told the railway board that the coaches will have vestibules, but no air-conditioning since the facility will be too costly. So while the chances of people falling off trains will be drastically cut down, commuters must prepare for a very claustrophobic commute.

City-based railway officials said that the move will cut down cross-ventilation since the doors are the main mode of air movement in locals. "It is a regressive decision modeled on the Kolkata Metro trains, many of which have automatic doors without air-conditioning. But look at the sheer numbers that Mumbai's locals carry during peak hours. It will get very stuffy," said an official.

A commuter called it a customary railway shortcut. "If the authorities want Mumbai's trains to have ASD, then they should also be willing to pay extra money and make it air-conditioned. It is about time the railways begins the process of converting the locals into air-conditioned ones. After all, Mumbai is the country's commercial capital which pays the highest amount of tax," said Bhandup resident Manish Chaturvedi.

As reported earlier by DNA, there is a difference of opinion between the Western and Central Railways over the presence of vestibules in the trains. WR is opposed to vestibules on grounds that their installation will require heavy changes in the design of the trains' electrical motors, further delaying the work. CR on its part has asked ICF to modify one of the Bombardier-powered rakes with automatic doors and vestibules.

Over the next two years, ICF will be making 70 Bombardier-powered rakes for Mumbai's suburban system. Preliminary work schedules drawn up by the ICF show that the earliest it could make an ASD train for Mumbai would be November next year. However, with the budgetary push, deadlines could be brought forward, said officials.

The Automatic Sliding Doors projec

Cost and time to construct

1. Without vestibules, without AC: Rs 39 crore

Time: 1 year 6 months (approx)2. With vestibules, without AC: Rs 41 crore

Time: 1 year 10 months3. With vestibules, with AC: Rs 43 crore

Time: 2 years 2 months

A milestone in terms of safety

Every year, around 700 people die after falling off local trains, say railway police statistics. Figures with the railways show that a local train has a capacity to seat 1,167 people. During non-peak hours, the general consensus is that for every person sitting, there are about two people standing, totaling to 2,334 standees. During peak hours, the number of standees could go up to 3,500 on certain routes. On certain routes during the peak hours, the number of standees could go up to 4,500, giving rise to a very Mumbai-specific term called the 'Super Dense Crush Load'. The commuter numbers continue to rise at a rate of around 3 per cent on WR, which carries 35 lakh people, and CR, which carries 41 lakh, and a whopping 9 percent on the Harbour line.