My Love for Trains

Indian Railways is not just a governing body but an emotion of all Indians. Indian Railways span over 12,00,000 km of routes all over India in almost all states. I am sure each one of you reading this post must have traveled at least once in trains.

My maternal grandfather has worked for 41 years in Indian Railways and 28 years on Daund Jn, a very important station for southbound trains originating from Mumbai or Pune, and it is also the reason why I love trains. This is because my first ever train journey was to Daund with my grandfather. Numerous people have traveled in trains but there are only a few who get to see the engine when on board and then there are people like me who get to enter the engine in their first train journey, yes I got to see the engine from inside on my first journey ever. Right from Pune Jn to the terminating station I loved the train journey through and through.

(Image Credit - Indian Rail Info)

This happened in around 2013 or 2014 and since then I started to research Indian Railways and got to know more about it slowly and gradually. I have traveled in trains only 7 times, out of that thrice to Daund, twice to Mumbai once to Indore, and once to Lonavala.

Since my first train journey, my love for Indian Railways has increased day by day. However, it increased more when I had traveled to Indore, which was my 1st overnight journey. 

There is an app called M-Indicator which I often use to browse routes and trains. It also provides the data of three Indian cities namely Mumbai Pune and Delhi of not only trains but local trains, STs, Metro, Mono, etc. That has also increased a lot of my knowledge about trains. Apart from that I also have a railway map that I refer to.

Pune Railway Station is my favorite place in the whole city. I can sit there for hours watching trains and travelers coming and going. If anyone asks me which place I will go if I am depressed, my answer would be any temple or Pune Railway Station.

For the past two years, I was unable to go to either the station or sit in a train. But finally, in my Christmas vacation around the 30th of December, I traveled by a local train from Pune to Lonavala and back by the same train within three-four hours. Neither did I had to buy Maganlal's chikki nor did I wanted to roam in Lonavala, the main reason was to travel by train. I chose Lonavala because it has close proximity to Pune and the frequency of trains is also good.

These were a few instances or bits to express my love for Indian Railways. Hope you have liked it.