MUMBAI, April 21 -- The sight of a swarm of people huddled under scorching corrugated metal roofs and temporary sheds at railway terminuses contrasts with the very idea of a summer vacation. The rush of migrant labourers and their families at Bandra, LTT, CSMT, Pune and Surat stations projects a tough test of human endurance. While a stampede-like situation briefly emerged at Udhna junction, in Surat, on Sunday, the heavy rush observed at LTT and Bandra terminuses on Sunday and Monday reflected the helplessness of migrant workers struggling to reach home despite the Indian Railways (IR) announcing 18,262 Summer Special trips, till July. The number of passengers being ferried is staggering: Surat and Mumbai on the Western Railways (WR) zone saw nearly 1,67,000 people fighting to board north and east bound trains on Sunday, while on the Central Railways (CR) route 45,000 passengers left Mumbai and Pune. CR has approved 74 trains (3,082 trips) till July, while WR has approved 106 trains (2,078 trips) for the same period. CR will run 292 trips of special trains till April 26, ferrying people to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal - for the holidays and the upcoming elections. With the arrival of dusk, the platforms start filling out with people holding tickets for unreserved bogies, as confirmed tickets in reserved bogies are hard to come by. Most of them carry heavy luggage, utensils, small drums and even mattresses. On Monday, Avdesh Kumar, 30, a resident of Nalasopara, was seen waiting for 8-9 hours at Bandra Terminus to board a train to Mau, in Uttar Pradesh, along with three family members. He had bought an unreserved ticket for his family and was among many standing or sitting in serpentine queues on the floor of the station's waiting area. The cloth tents, also called the holding area, were insufficient to hold such a large crowd, and slipping out to buy water or use the washroom could mean losing their spot. Kumar, and others like him, have no option but to endure this situation. "My sister is getting married in a couple of days. And I am carrying a mountain of luggage for the wedding. Touts were asking Rs.3,000 per sleeper class seat, but I could not afford that. So I paid Rs.300 per unreserved ticket," said Kumar, waiting to board the holiday special. Another passenger Shivam Gupta, 26, was seen standing amidst a sea of luggage on Sunday. A resident of Chembur, Gupta was headed for Jaunpur, UP, which is served by only one direct Western Railway (WR) train twice a week. He managed to secure 3AC tickets for his family, including his sister-in-law and two young children. "The heat is suffocating, and the crowd so dense that passengers from the sleeper and general classes are entering the AC coaches," said Gupta. "Reaching the toilet is a feat, as we risk losing our place to someone else with an unreserved ticket." A WR official said they were making every arrangement possible and running many Holiday Specials. "While platforms get crowded during specific hours, at other times the holding areas are empty," the official said. On Monday, at LTT people queued up in large numbers, causing the barricades to crash to the ground. "Though there is rush, the situation is not chaotic," said a CR official....