Last week, I caught a train to Patna from Siliguri with the Johnsons, a couple moving to Siliguri to work with us. We had an amazing experience I wanted to share with you.
We showed up in the train station in the afternoon at about 1:40 for our 1:50 train. Of course we sat around the platform for over an hour and a half, since the train was late. We were supposed to arrive in Patna at 4:00 AM. I'd made arrangements with my friend, "V" that I'd call him from the station before Patna Junction to let him know when we were getting close. Since I knew the train was running late, I set my alarm for 4AM just in case the train made up some time.
So at 4 AM, I woke up and found the train stopped. I asked someone how long until we get to Patna. They said we were 2 hours away. I asked where we were and they named the place, but it wasn't on the list of scheduled stops. Maybe I should have suspected something because of that, but sometimes when a train is late, it has to stop at other stations to allow another train to pass. So, I went back to sleep, setting my clock for 5, just in case the fellow told me wrong.
I woke up at 5 AM to people discussing the fact that the engine had broken down. People were beginning to flee the train. I asked someone what to do and they said to get on another train. I didn't know for sure that they were right, so I decided to go and look to see if I could find someone who worked for the railways to find out for sure what to do. First I told the Johnsons where I was going, When I started to climb down from the train, I saw that our coach wasn't next to the platform because it's a very small station with a small platform and we were on a long train. When there's no platform, you have to climb down a ladder to the gravel bed beside the tracks. So I climbed down and started walking to the platform which was a couple of hundred yards ahead. There I found an engineer.
He said that the engine had broken down.
I asked, "is another engine coming."
He said in Hindi, "It will take a long time."
When an Indian tells you, it will take a long time, that means it will be an eternity, so I knew we had to figure out another way to get to Patna or we might be sitting there for 12 hours or more. So I asked him, "What can we do?"
He said, "See that train that's coming, get on it."
"Do I need a ticket?"
"Do you have a ticket for this train?"
"Yes."
"Then just sit in the same coach," he said.
Not knowing how long the train was stopping there, I started walking as fast as I could in my flip flops back to the coach where the Johnsons were and my suitcase was. As I'm quickly walking, I called them on the phone to inform them to get their stuff together quickly so that we could switch trains. Then I got on the train, got my stuff, and we all climbed down the ladder from the train to the ground. We started walking on the railway bed, which is covered with gravel down towards the Air Conditioned Car. Then the train blew it's whistle and started moving.
I told the Johnsons, we have to get on the train quickly. We aborted our journey forward towards the Air Conditioned car and started climbing up the ladder onto the non-air conditioned sleeper class car, which was very crowded, but was the nearest entry point to the train. I saw that with the two of them climbing up and hoisting their luggage up that there was no way I was going to be able to board the train as it was picking up speed and would be moving too fast by the time they got up the ladder. So I went to the next coach and started to climb up only to find the door was locked. I asked the people to open the door, but they didn't open it.
Then I waited for the next door to come as the train was moving and starting to move pretty fast. I was actually running beside the train trying to hoist my small bag up onto the train (about 6 or 7 feet up) while I was running alongside the train. I called out, "Moojay mudud deejeeay!" ("Help me!)
Fortunately the people grabbed my bag for me. Then I was trying to grab onto the rail on the ladder and get my feet up on the rungs of the ladder while running alongside the train. I felt like what it must have felt like to be in an old western movie galloping next to a moving train and jumping on it to rob it. Finally, I got up on the train.
It was packed and there wasn't any place to sit. I moved towards the doorway that had been locked and stood in the walkway. The Johnsons started navigating their way down the aisle towards me. Meanwhile a policeman came and scolded me for getting on the train. I told him I had a ticket for the other train and the engineer had told me to get on this train. He then told me that getting on a moving train will result in an accident. I told him that my friends had already boarded and I couldn't leave them and begged his forgiveness and he moved along.
The Johnsons and I stood there in that doorway for the duration of the journey, which was about 2 hours.
I told Trish what had happened and she told me how dangerous it was. Looking back, it was crazy to try to get on a train moving that fast, but in the moment I wasn't thinking about the danger, just that we had to get on that train. It was an experience I hope to never have again, but what an adventure it was!
We showed up in the train station in the afternoon at about 1:40 for our 1:50 train. Of course we sat around the platform for over an hour and a half, since the train was late. We were supposed to arrive in Patna at 4:00 AM. I'd made arrangements with my friend, "V" that I'd call him from the station before Patna Junction to let him know when we were getting close. Since I knew the train was running late, I set my alarm for 4AM just in case the train made up some time.
So at 4 AM, I woke up and found the train stopped. I asked someone how long until we get to Patna. They said we were 2 hours away. I asked where we were and they named the place, but it wasn't on the list of scheduled stops. Maybe I should have suspected something because of that, but sometimes when a train is late, it has to stop at other stations to allow another train to pass. So, I went back to sleep, setting my clock for 5, just in case the fellow told me wrong.
I woke up at 5 AM to people discussing the fact that the engine had broken down. People were beginning to flee the train. I asked someone what to do and they said to get on another train. I didn't know for sure that they were right, so I decided to go and look to see if I could find someone who worked for the railways to find out for sure what to do. First I told the Johnsons where I was going, When I started to climb down from the train, I saw that our coach wasn't next to the platform because it's a very small station with a small platform and we were on a long train. When there's no platform, you have to climb down a ladder to the gravel bed beside the tracks. So I climbed down and started walking to the platform which was a couple of hundred yards ahead. There I found an engineer.
He said that the engine had broken down.
I asked, "is another engine coming."
He said in Hindi, "It will take a long time."
When an Indian tells you, it will take a long time, that means it will be an eternity, so I knew we had to figure out another way to get to Patna or we might be sitting there for 12 hours or more. So I asked him, "What can we do?"
He said, "See that train that's coming, get on it."
"Do I need a ticket?"
"Do you have a ticket for this train?"
"Yes."
"Then just sit in the same coach," he said.
Not knowing how long the train was stopping there, I started walking as fast as I could in my flip flops back to the coach where the Johnsons were and my suitcase was. As I'm quickly walking, I called them on the phone to inform them to get their stuff together quickly so that we could switch trains. Then I got on the train, got my stuff, and we all climbed down the ladder from the train to the ground. We started walking on the railway bed, which is covered with gravel down towards the Air Conditioned Car. Then the train blew it's whistle and started moving.
I told the Johnsons, we have to get on the train quickly. We aborted our journey forward towards the Air Conditioned car and started climbing up the ladder onto the non-air conditioned sleeper class car, which was very crowded, but was the nearest entry point to the train. I saw that with the two of them climbing up and hoisting their luggage up that there was no way I was going to be able to board the train as it was picking up speed and would be moving too fast by the time they got up the ladder. So I went to the next coach and started to climb up only to find the door was locked. I asked the people to open the door, but they didn't open it.
Then I waited for the next door to come as the train was moving and starting to move pretty fast. I was actually running beside the train trying to hoist my small bag up onto the train (about 6 or 7 feet up) while I was running alongside the train. I called out, "Moojay mudud deejeeay!" ("Help me!)
Fortunately the people grabbed my bag for me. Then I was trying to grab onto the rail on the ladder and get my feet up on the rungs of the ladder while running alongside the train. I felt like what it must have felt like to be in an old western movie galloping next to a moving train and jumping on it to rob it. Finally, I got up on the train.
It was packed and there wasn't any place to sit. I moved towards the doorway that had been locked and stood in the walkway. The Johnsons started navigating their way down the aisle towards me. Meanwhile a policeman came and scolded me for getting on the train. I told him I had a ticket for the other train and the engineer had told me to get on this train. He then told me that getting on a moving train will result in an accident. I told him that my friends had already boarded and I couldn't leave them and begged his forgiveness and he moved along.
The Johnsons and I stood there in that doorway for the duration of the journey, which was about 2 hours.
I told Trish what had happened and she told me how dangerous it was. Looking back, it was crazy to try to get on a train moving that fast, but in the moment I wasn't thinking about the danger, just that we had to get on that train. It was an experience I hope to never have again, but what an adventure it was!
