Every day, millions of commuters move through the Mumbai Suburban Railway, one of the world’s busiest urban rail systems. Among those managing its crowds and enforcing safety rules are women working as security personnel, ticket inspectors and operations staff.
Ahead of International Women’s Day, women employees of Central Railway described the challenges of working on the suburban network, where crowded platforms, ticket violations and passenger safety concerns are routine.
At Dadar railway station, Railway Protection Force constable Sonam Vishwakarma spends much of her shift responding to incidents on platforms, including passengers attempting to board moving trains or cross railway tracks.
“During rush hours people try to board moving trains or cross the tracks,” Vishwakarma said. “When we see that happening, we have to stop them immediately and pull them back.”
Vishwakarma has worked in the suburban section for six years. Her duties include patrolling platforms, preventing trespassing on tracks and responding to safety complaints from passengers.
She said women officers are frequently approached by female passengers seeking assistance, particularly during late-night travel.
“If a woman travelling alone feels unsafe, she can message us and we will attend to her at the next station,” she said.
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The Railway Protection Force operates the Smart Saheli initiative, which allows women passengers to message officers for assistance at the next station. However, Vishwakarma said crowd sizes at major stations such as Dadar railway station and Thane railway station can make it difficult to monitor every incident.
“Many incidents happen daily; we cannot manage the entire crowd alone,” she said.
Officials from Central Railway said the zone currently employs 8,197 women across departments including train operations, station management, signalling, ticket checking and the Railway Protection Force.
Inside the trains, travelling ticket inspectors conduct checks across suburban services.
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Varsha Tayde, who joined Central Railway in 2007 as a travelling ticket inspector, spends much of her shift moving through crowded coaches checking tickets and identifying violations.
“It is very challenging,” she said. “There are many people travelling without tickets, and arguments happen.”
Tayde said inspectors sometimes encounter passengers presenting altered season passes or screenshots instead of valid digital tickets generated through the railway’s mobile ticketing system.
“Sometimes arguments happen and passengers even hit us,” she said. “But we have to stay calm and explain the rules.”
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Ticket inspections are often conducted in teams, particularly during peak hours when coaches are crowded. Stations such as Ghatkopar railway station, Kurla railway station, Thane railway station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus see frequent checks because of the volume of passengers.
Tayde said some passengers attempt to get off trains or cross tracks when they notice ticket inspectors approaching.
“We tell them not to do that,” she said. “Money is not more important than life.”
Tayde works evening shifts conducting ticket inspections on suburban trains until 10 pm. But the scale of crowds often limits how much inspectors can cover during a shift.
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“We cannot check the whole train every day due to crowd size,” she said. “On non-AC locals we conduct checks in groups, with one inspector at each gate. At smaller stations there is often not enough manpower.”
