Last of the Narrow Gauge

The Indian Railways decided that from 1 November 2015  the Narrow Gauge trains will be a thing of the past (like all things the shutting down was delayed to December). The places where people will be privileged to travel on these choo-choo trains will be in Darjeeling, Shimla and Ooty. The Narrow Gauge is collateral damage to the chug of progress - Broad Gauge Conversion.

Getting to the Narrow Gauge  platform in Nagpur is similar to getting to the 9 ¾ platform from which the Hogswart Express leaves. Walking on Platform 1 of the Nagpur station one comes to a pillar that separates this platform from the path to the narrow gauge platform. On this pillar is a little board that announces 'To Narrow Gauge'. You could easily miss it. Walking past the board, one gets a view of the Narrow Gauge track. There is a soon to be extinct Narrow Gauge train on the platform, it is heading to Nainpur in Madhya Pradesh.

The Narrow Gauge line in Central India began in the 1900s. The Gondia – Nainpur line was opened on the 13th of April 1903, there was the Chindwara-Pench Coalfield line that began in 1906-07. The 2ft 6 in (762mm) gauge line extended to just over 1000 km.

In this railway division the conversion to broad gauge began in the December 1992.When I heard that the remnants of the Narrow Gauge line was being finally shut down I decided book myself on a rain travelling between Nagpur and Nainpur.  This being the longest route, I hoped it would  give me a full experience of travelling on this line.

I booked my tickets on-line and chose a sleeper class seat, the idea being that I would be able sleep and also walk to the general compartments between stations. The sleeper bogie on the Narrow Gauge line is very different from what the passengers of the Broad Gauge line are used to. Here the bogie seats 38, there are 10 sleepers that hang above the benches.

This means that only 10 of the 38 onboard this compartment can buy the privilege of lying down. The only difference between the general compartment and the sleeper is the absence of these overhead berths.

The train left on time – 12.45 pm. As the train headed out of Nagpur, we passed through shanties that were at arms reach from my window. The tracks are part of peoples courtyards suggesting that people had encroached on railway land or the railways had usurped land from the people. One of the first things one appreciates on travelling by the Narrow Gauge is that speed of the train does not match its sound and fury.

The Narrow Gauge connects the less developed areas of this region. This fact was brought home by the stations we stopped at. Many were just signposts, others had a little concrete shed which also served as ticket counters. Being  a single line, there were a few  stations that were a little more elaborate to ensure oncoming trains could pass each other on parallel tracks and then get back on the single track.

As these tracks were built to connect the hinterland there isnt much distance between stations. The train stopped every few minutes, my fellow passengers were all of the short haul variety. As I was travelling before Dushhera many were headed back to their villages/towns.  

 There is not much to eat at these stations. Any lone snack stall at these halts does quick business. Many villagers sell fruits and vegetables here and Sitaphal seemed to be the fruit of the season. While sharing a piece of this fruit with a student headed home he told me that the best of these fruits are found here and that the tastiest Alu Bondas are found at the Karaili station on the Beena line.

When I asked one of the passengers what he would do once this line was shut he replied that journeys would become a luxury undertaken on family emergencies and to answer government notices. The fare of a bus ticket is double that of a Narrow Gauge train ticket.

Before becoming part of the Indian Railways behemoth, this Narrow Gauge line was known as the Satpuda Railway which was developed by the Bengal Nagpur Railway. Nainpur was the hub of this section. The train passes through the Maikal ranges of Satpuda hills and we covered some densely forested areas. Once in the hinterland, the train chugged past mud houses surrounded by green fields bordered by jungle. In the forested areas  there was a lot of gauge conversion work in progress. Stones dumped in huge piles, cleared areas deep in the forest, concrete sections that would soon become part of a station or a bridge popped up at frequent intervals on this journey.

Some railway gangmen got on board a few hours later. They said that even though this line would soon be shutting down the Railways would ensure that they worked for their money. 
 We reached Nainpur on time – 2.30 am the next day. The Nainpur station was lit and there was activity. Like in other stations people were sleeping on the platform, porters carried the trunks of guards and drivers to rest areas. However, there was a sense that this place had seen a far greater rush in earlier times. I walked into town to find a place to stay but at this early hour the hotels/lodges were shut and their attendants fast asleep. I returned to the station to chat to the owner of a tea stall there. Just then a near empty passenger train rolled in. While pouring me a warm cuppa chai, Babloo Kushwa, the owner told me that the station used to be packed at all times of the day. He reminisced that this train that had just rolled in used to give him a business of more than Rs 600/-. But with hardly any people using it, it was difficult to make even fifty rupees. He said that as train operations had been slowly whittled down people were forced to use buses.

He said that Nainpur was a railway town and its economy revolved around the presence of the railways. When I asked him what he would do once the station shut he said he had not thought of it as yet. My question was answered by another passenger who said that in all probability the tea stall owners would take their business to the bus station.

After a snooze I hired a cycle rickshaw to see the town. The importance of Nainpur as a rail hub could be gauged by the many British styled large railway offices and residences that were shut. 

The ordinariness of these trains could not  take away from the important role they played in the socio-economy of this region. Students, migrating families, regular passengers, vegetable sellers, tea stall owners  were all linked to these  Narrow Gauge tracks.  

The essence of time is  change, gauge conversion is an example of this. In this transformation many are going to be left out. What's going to happen to those little stops that had no station building to their name?  Would people collecting wood in the forest be able to hop on and hop off at the next station?  Or are they going to be swept aside as the Broad Gauge  trains thunder past?

Read about train journeys in my book '1400 Bananas, 76 Towns & 1 Million People' available on Amazon, flipkart and book stores.