Karnataka - Mangalore   

They all came only to see the train

MANGALORE: College and school students bunked their classes for an unusual reason of having the glimpse of the new train from Mangalore to Yeshwanthpur (Bangalore) on the first day, Saturday. College girls, when asked whether they had come to board a train or receive a friend, said, “No, we want to see the train.” They went into the AC coach only to be asked to get off the train by raiwlay personnel. They wanted to know whether the train would go to Bangalore everyday. “We have skipped the classes because we want to go by the train one of these days,” they said.

There was a continuous flow of children into the railway station from noon till the train left at 3 p.m. School boys were getting in and out of different coaches.

The passengers, who came to board the train on the first day, were excited too. An aged woman in AC coach said she was thrilled by the fact that she could go to Bangalore by a train. “The roads are so bad, you know,” she said. For Ibrahim of Subrahmanaya, a student of Srinivasa College of Pharmacy in Padavu, the introduction of the train meant a lot. “Now, I can reach Mangalore in time and attend classes,” he said. The train is scheduled to leave Subrahmanya Road by 6 a.m. and reach Mangalore by 7.30 a.m. he said.

His relative, Abdul Hafeez, said the train would take only 90 minutes to reach Mangalore from Subrahmanya Road. Buses took more than three hours, not speak of the physical strain owing to poor condition of the road. “Besides, the bus fare is Rs. 40 to Rs. 44. The train fare will be Rs. 34 for express trains and Rs. 17 for ordinary train,” he said. Many people were seen capturing the image of the train through their mobile phones. There were discussions on the advantages of travelling by train, the horrid experiences of journey by bus, the condition of roads, traffic jams and so on. They were nostalgic about the journey by metre gauge train more than 12 years ago.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

They all came only to see the train
A most thrilling route
It has a ‘black box’, special brake
Celebrations all the way
Governor briefed on law and order

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu