Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Rail gaadi

Rail gaadi
chuk chhuk chhuk ruk ruk ruk
well though it is more about, mind the closing doors and mind the gap here, I can say that the amount of time I have travelled here in trains is more than the time I have travelled in India so far :-)Its almost 7 months in London, I came here just before Christmas
; and in these 7 months I have travelled almost all the 13 lines of the london underground service
(East London and Waterloo and City lines are pending) now you know what a bhatkuram i am :-), its pretty impressive to see the underground network functioning and to know that all this was built almost 100 years back. and its pretty easy too, actually the maps and the colour code makes it simple. I remember when I travelled in Amchi mumbai sometimes would always get confused with which lines to take, etc but here I seem to have mastered the map now :-)

Last saturday I was pretty amused, scared and impressed when I sat in the DLR i.e. The Docklands Light Rail that traverses the East part of London on the Docks. the train traverses on tracks built over the bridges i.e.like a flyover and reminds you of toy train journey(its a little slow that the normal trains), it stops at various stations on its way ,opens the door , closes the door makes proper announcement, [there is a station called East India and a station called West India too in East London ]and whats the most amazing part is that the train does not have any Driver...yup thats right,.....no train drivers boarded on that train to manouver the train. I was sitting on the front most compartment on the first row seeing the tracks, it was amazing to see the way the train moves , turns etc, at one place it had to take a total U-turn and that part was scary, but it did so beautifully. I googled and then I found how it works, here is the link.
Some technology amazes me big time and this is just one of them.


P.S: When I told this to Mom, mommy said I would never sit in that train :)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I also wudn't sit in such a train..[:)], though wud like to see how it runs..

John said...

Yep yep.. I thoroughly enjoyed the tubes and the first time I bought the ticket and stood near those automated gates trying to figure out how to get through :D

And yes, feels good to be back :D

bornfree said...

Me also have wondered at the automatic trains here in singapore. Appreciate your curiosity and thanks for that link :)

The question i always had was why do they have those windshield wipers on the 'underground' 'driverless' trains!!!

Sunita said...

:) That was pretty informative. By the loved the tubes and their maps as well.

Pushpa said...

I love to travel too...esp the tube...amazing experience...

AlterinG Abhishek said...

wow!!

must have been really interesting!!

Unknown said...

I have been to a lot of places:

but the trains in Singapore are much better than any other places I have been to. Infact I could compare the trains on Zurich Airport to be of the same quality as Singapore's Northen Line.

Yes fully automated and very smooth ride, unlike London's DLR or Bombay trains *heavens*

I have lost the knack of getting into the crowded trains in Bombay

puja said...

hey wel i can imagine mumbai trains replaced by by these trains..... it wud just add into the chaos.... ppl rushin in n out of those automatic doors some gettin thier things stuck or may b themselves in btwn those doors.... the phiriwalas selling things, the sweat odour, the fighting for seats .... well thanx that gives me n idea fr another blog....
but indeed u seemed to hv had n adventurous ride .... something similar to wat we have at esselworld.:)

Sunita said...

hey, where are you??

swati said...

Me still think Indian Railways is the best...mebbe not technology wise, but definitely management wise.

: )

ams said...

yeah... DLRs r fun ... I have been to DLR only once, by mistake, mrudul was with me... and we were so damn excited to see the tracks and buildings as we crossed them!

Unknown said...

Long time no see.. still travelling in the rail gaadi kya?? :P

Risha said...

Thanks for sharing your lovely thoughts and comments and missing me ;)

Ruzan said...

yu bet, im sure its fun to sit in the front overlooking the tracks and taking the virtual drivers seat... hope some desi doesn't compliment ur train driving skills :)