India, June 10 -- Its transport network has failed to keep pace with the city's geographical expansion and dispersion of its population

One hundred and seventy-two years after Great Indian Peninsula Railways ran Bombay's first suburban train between Bori Bunder and Thane, the city's rail network continues to be its lifeline. But Monday's accident at Mumbra in which four people lost their lives is a stark reminder of how hazardous their daily commute is for millions of Mumbaikars.

Trains that are meant to carry 2,500 passengers routinely carry twice that number making the crush load on Mumbai's suburban network among the densest in the world. The 1810 daily train services on the central railway on which the accident happened, carry four ...