There are 39,316 miles of track.
Approximately 22 million people are transported by train each day.
India's rail network is the second largest in the world after Scotlands.
India Rail is the largest employer on the planet with 1.6 million employees.
400-500 train crashes occur each year killing 700-800 people making it the deadliest rail network in the world.
There is a special term that eclipses the Tokyo underground for train density. It is "Super-Dense Crush Load". At peak times as many as 4700 passengers can occupy as few as 9 carriages leading to a density of 14-16 passengers per metre squared. That is actually impossible (try it) so many will just dangle out of the doors hanging on.
Corinne and I were really fortunate to experience a bit of this on the busiest stretch between Churchgate Terminus and Virar in North Mumbai. Fortunately we manged to disentangle ourselves at Mahim Junction just outside Dharavi. It is the first time I have had to burrow through people. I am sure they would have moved if they could but it simply is not a case of saying, "excuse me dear sir, mind if I pass?" You have to compress them further. I heard many exhales after I passed.
That same stretch of track transports a staggering 900 million people annually and we were glad not to be one of the 3500 that die each year from falling out of the doors (what doors), crossing the tracks or being knocked off the roof by overhead cables.
I am actually writing this from a train believe it or not. Here's me sitting on the PVC seat slapping out a few words.
I've been sitting here since 1940 yesterday and it is now 1605. Nearly 21 hours and we're nearing our destination of Agra. It has been a pretty uneventful trip. The views have been pretty good though the windows are not the cleanest. It's flat now, incredibly green, but very flat. In the distance there are chimneys that poke up out of the landscape, evidence of human ingress on an otherwise completely unspoiled landscape. Occasionaly a factory flits by, if it is far enough away it drags by in a very non-Shinkasen way. There is livestock, mainly cows and goats and the cur dogs that inhabit everywhere. I thought I saw some elephants earlier, but I was groggy and they were hiding in some grass, the way that elephants do.
What is a relief is that the cycle of living in filth seems to dissipate. It has not gone, but it is certainly reduced. At the railway stations the litter and foul stenches rear their heads again, but for the most part, villages are relatively trash free...not clean, but trash free, the mosaics of plastic bags, discarded bottles and lively coloured wrappers give way to a rubbly and unkept discourse. We have not managed to find "clean" anywhere in India. The point is, and I don't mean to labour it, people just don't care if they drop litter. No one does. There is no sense of shame in discarding non-biodegradeable items. As an example, after our train meal, we had some food and metal fool trays that were left once we'd finished. I asked the train staff what I should do with it. They just motioned to throw it out of the window. I was flabbergasted. Needless to say we kept hold of it until our final destination and deposited it in one of the very rare rubbish bins. Another example (again, I don't mean to belabour it but this one is pretty funny)..... we were weaving our way through Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus when a couple of school kids threw their empty water bottle onto the tracks. I saw it and paid no head, Rin saw it, caught their eye and gave one of her dissapproving school teacher looks as if to say "filthy little boys". The smiles evaporated from their giggling faces and visages turned to one of guilt and perhaps a little shame. One small victory, who knows, one of them may grow up to be the Indian Minister for Sanitation and the whole country is saved from a future of living in a dum, who is that character in Fraggle Rock, the talking trash heap??? One can hope.
Back to the train experience. For 3004 Rs, about $70 we have travelled a long way from Mumbai to Agra. The class was Two Tier AC, which translates to a carriage with air conditioning and two levels of beds, an upper bunk and a lower bunk. On one side of the train there is one above the other, on the other side of the train there 4 facing each other. We're sharing with two lads who work making documents for the goverment. Apparently our visas were made by them. We've had a decent chat though for the most part they, and Corinne, have slept. I've been on guard and blog duty.
There is no shortage of refreshment aboard out train. Besides our cocktails we made in plastic drinks bottles a wallah passes by every minute or so selling either chai, samosa's or rice meals. I have to say, he didn't offer anything as scumptious as Absolutely Mango, a little concoction of Absolute grapefruit and mango juice. Nor was he able to sell the simply magnificent G&T's we'd made. We went Empire style - warm. The gin and mango was attempted, but it fell short of G&C, Rin's creation of gin and cranberry - also warm. Besides the party in seats 33+34 we would be entertained trying to figure out the wallah calls that echo through the carriage.
Occasionally a wallah passes selling chips and another selling soft drinks. Our experiences with them have not been altogether honest on their parts. We initially bought some chai and the unscrupulous little devil said it was 10Rs. I didn't have change so had to give a 50, he tried his luck and gave me back 30Rs before quickly moving on. The actual price is usually 5Rs though I've noticed they take 2Rs from some people. I guess I can't, or shouldn't, grumble over a few cents....I'll put it down to free enterprise that means it's ok to rip off tourists. Afterall, the Indian Government is making a very pretty penny out of it. Besides in reality it is their loss. I've not bought from the blaggard again, favouring another wallah instead.
The food is not bad, for the price, $2.20 buys you decent fare with a vegetarian option or a meat option that is always chicken. The man that took our order, one of the train employees, was delighted when we asked for vegetarian. Later in the travel I asked for non-vegetarian and he looked considerable less impressed. Hindus are very protective of their non-meat status.
Sleeping was an interesting acttivity. A blanket, two sheets and a pillow are provided and with that you construct your basic bed. We had our silk sleeping sheets which was basically all I required for a regal night of swaying luxury and nodding off to the regular clackety clack of the rail joins. The tracks are not as smooth as Japan or Korea, but the sense of colonial white man meant a decent night of zzz's after luggage was locked up and valuables placed in pockets upon oneself. Rin had a slightly different experience, waking once to see one of the train employees within the confines of the little curtained cabin. He wwas breaking the rules, she fell back asleep only to be woken again an hour later, unsure why her legs were trapped and the bed felt so much shorter. Someone decided to park their arse on the end of her bed. If I had been awake I would have politely asked him to move, then I would have hit him with my left shoe.
All in, a decent way to travel and we're both glad that we took the time and the experience over our backup plane option.....oh, I didn't mention the requirement for a backup did I. In india you have to book train travel well in advance, at least you have to if you want to stand any chance of getting an Tier 2 or Tier 3 AC carriage. First Class is not really an option and you must avoid the sleeper and unreserved carriages. They harbour death. We were lucky to get two of the seats (the last two) that are reserved for tourists. Thank goodness we read the guide otherwise we'd have missed the experience completely.
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