Suburban railway is known as the life line of Mumbai, the financial capital of the country. And Ram Naik is better known as Mumbai suburban commuters' voice. Nearly 1.20 crore people travel daily by railways all over the country, out of them 65 lakh commuters are from Mumbai suburban railway. His innings as a commuters' man began in 1964 when he actively contributed to the formation of 'Goregaon Pravasi Sangh'. He alongwith Prof. Ram Kapse, both MLAs, submitted a Petition to Lok Sabha on behalf of Mumbai commuters in 1978 which brought out their woes before the Parliament for the first time. Later on as an MP he was instrumental in bringing more trains, conversion of trains from 9 coach to 12 coach rakes, extending Mumbai suburban system from Virar to Dahanu, etc. His suggestion to introduce insurance cover for railway commuters was accepted by the Government.

Ram Naik was inducted as a Minister of State for Railways in the Vajpayee Government. Later, he was also given Independent Charge of the Ministry. His proposal to form a separate Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) with projects worth Rs. 3,450 crore for Mumbai was accepted by the Cabinet. These projects include quadruplication of Borivli - Virar, 6 lines between Kurla - Kalyan, replacement of overaged rakes with modern rakes, widening of tracks between Virar - Dahanu so as to enable to start direct trains from Churchgate to Dahanu, etc. He also introduced trains exclusively for women, the first of its kind in the world.

While introducing new long distance trains, Ram Naik sought people's avtive participation by inviting people to suggest names for new trains e.g. Matsyagandha and Konkan Kanya trains on Konkan Railway and Hari-Priya train from Tirupati (Hari) to Kolhapur (Ambabai).

Ram Naik convenes commuters conferences from time to time. After bomb-blasts in running local trains which killed nearly 200 commuters, he was instrumental in organising help for bomb-blast victims. When the Railways denied jobs to blast victims who were handicapped, he filed a writ petition and succeeded in securing jobs for all with disability, more than 40%.