October 1, 2025: Mumbai’s suburban rail network once again came under the spotlight after Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma posed a provocative question on X: “Totally academic question: Why doesn’t Mumbai get 10x of the current capacity of local trains?” Alongside his query, Sharma shared a video showing passengers boarding a moving train, highlighting the intense pressure on the city’s rail system.
The post quickly went viral, with netizens offering a mix of technical explanations and societal observations. One user pointed out operational constraints, writing: “There’s a cap on frequency. Every 3–5 minutes, there’s a train. Coaches are limited by platform sizes. Tracks are restricted due to Mumbai’s topography. Instead of making Mumbai better, it may be time to create better cities for our population.”
Another commentator highlighted the challenges of demand and crowd management, noting: “Trains run every two minutes in Mumbai, an overpopulated city. Rush hour is chaotic. Similar scenes occur in New York and Tokyo, but people do not shove or board moving trains. One solution could be advising companies to stagger office hours to ease the rush.”
Among the responses, Nabil Kazi, ex-founding member of the Indian Railways app Yatri, offered a rare insider perspective. He recounted his experience working with the DRMs of both Central and Western Railways to implement live train locations. “Adjusting 4–5 new trains in a day, coordinating around 150 rakes making roughly 2,000 trips just on Central Railway alone, is extraordinarily complex. Mumbai locals are truly a work of art,” he wrote.
Experts and observers say Mumbai’s situation reflects deeper structural issues: rapid urbanisation, uneven political accountability, and insufficient city planning. While the idea of “10x capacity” appeals to the public, realistic solutions will require a combination of engineering innovations, policy interventions, and behavioural adjustments rather than merely adding more trains.
Source: Startuppedia
