A recent inspection by top officials from Western Railway showed that the gap between promises and reality is akin to the gap between the train and the platform — too wide for comfort. A report in the paper stated that general manager GC Agrawal had inspected railway stations between Andheri and Virar ahead of Independence Day. I-Day speeches incidentally, by both Central and Western Railways, were full of bombast, with promises of more escalators, additional platforms, ticket counters, vending machines and other amenities for commuters.

Yet, a visit to stations on the Western line proved just how much work needed to be done. The first cause of worry was the bunch of cables hanging from the roof and above the platforms. One cannot understand why these cables are not attended to immediately, tied up and removed from their place. This surely does not need time. We often see hanging cables from the roofs of residential and public services buildings. Because they are such a familiar sight, people can be misled into thinking these are innocuous. Consider this: recently, when an external cable fell on the overhead power cable that supplies electricity to trains near Charni Road station. This caused train services to come to a halt.