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Train musings
As Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee pulled the curtains on the Railway Budget, HT City asked youngsters if train travel still holds any attraction.
As Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee pulled the curtains on the Railway Budget, HT City asked youngsters if train travel still holds any attraction.
“I did my engineering from Dehradun and would travel to Delhi by train. I formed some great friendships on the way,” says Manu Gupta, who met his girlfriend on a train.
Be it Rajesh Khanna crooning
Mere Sapno ki Rani
to Sharmila Tagore in
Aradhana
, Shah Rukh Khan dancing to
Chaiyya Chaiyya
in
Dil Se
, or Shahid and Kareena’s love story unfolding on the move in
Jab We Met
, train journeys have always been synonymous with romance. But they are more than that. “Trains are cost-effective,” says Saurabh Jain, who travels daily from Faridabad to Connaught Place in Delhi’s local train service, called the EMU. “However,
commuters need to learn some etiquettes,” he rues, explaining how people get into fights onboard.
“Train journeys are very nostalgic,” says Eeshaan Arora, a Delhi University student who frequently visits his family in Nainital. “The fun of gorging on home-made jeera-aloo with paranthas in a train is heavenly,” says Shivani Yadav, a student.
However, not all are allured by the railways. “I take a flight when going to Mumbai as it is a long distance and the condition of our railways is bad,” says Aamrah Ashraf, a student.
“Though trains have an old-world charm, I prefer flights for practical purposes, especially after the drastic cut in aircraft prices,” echoes Karan, also a student.
