HISTORY, LEGENDS & MYTHOLOGY

British colonial train set to fade into history
by Ravi Pati

     Murtijpur (Maharashtra): It's been over a century since the Shakuntla Express, a narrow gauge train operated by a British company, hit the railway tracks in western India for the first time. Today, it is set to fade into history. Railway authorities are expected to terminate its contract. 'You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles', goes the Joan Baez song, but Shakuntala Express, will stop chugging soon. "Even, a decade down the line, when March 31 approached, our heart would skip a beat due to anxiety. We will still have an anxiety about the discontinuation of the train. If it stopped, what would happen to all those individuals who depend on this train for survival?, " asks Samadhan Ingle, a regular commuter. The train runs between Murtijapur and Yavatmal, a 189 km (120 miles) trip that takes four hours and costs rupees twenty (50 cents). It is still under the contract of the British company and journeys in the cotton belt of western India. Every day hundreds of passengers commute on the Shakuntla Express to their places of work. "Railway officials have told us that if we want this train to run on broad gauge, we will have to end the contract that we have with the British company. When the contract terminates, the train will stop plying. Then, we can initiate changes. So, now, we have begun efforts to see to it that this train of three to four bogies is taken over by the Indian Government and is converted into one of five to six bogies on a broad gauge. I guess, the passengers will benefit by it," said Anant Gudhe, a lawmaker from the region, who commutes on the train. The meter gauge is still owned by the British company 'Railway Signal Co Ltd, Liverpool, England 1895'. The original engine was a steam locomotive that rests in a shed. A diesel engine has ben in use for the last for the last twelve years. Rural folk see the train as an affordable mode of transport. "This is an ideal train for poor people like us, labourers and daily wage earners. We cannot afford the bus fares for the same commute, which are thrice this train's fare. Therefore, we demand that this train must continue plying," said Kesarbai, a labourer. Unlike in other trains, a clerk gives tickets onboard. .
-Mar 31, 2007    

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