Get on the India train
Get on the India trainiStock

While in Israel we complain about the overcrowding on Israel Railways, there are places where overcrowding breaks records. The trains in India are full of passengers, and the Indians hang on the train from the doors. And the government? It recommends that tourists not travel during rush hour.

Every day, the average Indian gets up in the morning and commutes to work on the train. The problem begins when hundreds of thousands of people are also trying to get on the same train. Each train is trying to take 8 million passengers, while they fight over the right to hang on the train already on the platform. Although each car is designed for about 1,500 people, during the rush hours, some 4,500 passengers are estimated to be more likely.

After the trains are filled quickly at the first stations, at the other stations passengers hang on the cars outside for the rest of the trip. Since the trains' doors remain permanently open for the duration of the trip, dozens of people fall and are injured every day, and some are even killed. According to government reports, some 400 people were killed in the past year as a result of a fall from a moving train, and more than 800 were wounded.

When there is no place, they stand on the roofs.

Recently, many voices in India have been calling for extensive changes in the country's railway system, which annually costs nearly 3,000 victims from various accidents. Like Israel, railways in India are managed by the government, which in the meantime is not making any substantive changes, apart from recommending tourists not travel by train during rush hour.

So next time you complain about overcrowding on the Israel Railways, remember that it could be a lot worse here.