Golden rules of Mumbai local trains!

I have been travelling on Mumbai's local trains (or EMUs as they are called technically) ever since I was 12yrs old. Those days, the travel time (to school) was limited to just 5 minutes. Later as I joined junior college, the travel time (and time of travel) increased to around 20min. When I joined engineering college, the travel time (one way!) went up to a whopping hour and a half!! These days, the travel time to work is about 30-40 min.

Anyway, the purpose behind these statistics is to give you an idea that I have done some fair amount of travelling on the Mumbai local trains and have experienced and learnt the five golden rules or truths of travelling in a Mumbai local:

1) Always allow passengers to board the train first (especially during peak hours although the instructions outside say exactly the opposite) :-)

2) Never travel in a Virar fast local to Borivali during the evening peak hours even though it stops there! You will end up getting a free unsolicited ride upto Dahisar - the next halt.

3) Board a slow train if you want to get down at a halt. Board a fast train if you want to get down between halts.

4) The popularity of roof-top travel has eliminated the need for air-conditioning!

5) The value of a First Class season pass is around four times that of a Second Class pass. The snob value of a First Class traveller however is ten times higher!! :-))