Traveling OSM Salesman Problem ✊🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇵🇸🇺🇦I recently met someone in Indirāpuram, and then dropped them off at Ghāziābād Junction.
It was a total PITA to go from Indirāpuram to Ghāziābād Junction - the whole city of Ghāziābād seemingly has no buses, and it took us over an hour and three share auto interchanges to cover the mere 11 kilometer distance to the station.
Consequently, I was left wondering how to get back home. The nearest Metro station was 3.5km away - I would probably have to take another share auto (or two) to get there.
But then I heard the announcement for a Ghāziābād-New Delhi EMU - part of the Delhi suburban railway, which has seemingly been forgotten by most since the Delhi Metro arrived on the scene - scheduled to leave soon.
This EMU dropped me off from Ghāziābād to Mandāwalī-Chandra Vihār in merely 17 minutes. From there, it was a 15-minute walk to my home.
For comparison, CoMaps estimates that it would take me…
- 41 minutes (and 2 interchanges) to go from the Shaheed Sthal Metro station to Laxmī Nagar Metro station, and
- 42 minutes (and 1 interchange) to go from Shaheed Sthal Metro station to Mandāwalī-West Vinod Nagar Metro station,
…and both of those estimates exclude the 4.5 km distance to the Shaheed Sthal Metro station. (The destination Metro stations are also farther away from my home, and I’d need to take a bus + a 5 minute walk to get home.)
Oh, and the cost was all of ₹10. The Metro fare alone would have been like ₹40-50.
There’s something about non-AC trains that just hits different. I felt it when I commuted by Mumbai local trains, and more recently when I traveled by a DEMU and a non-AC passenger train in West Bengal. After this Ghāziābād-New Delhi EMU, I wondered - is it because it feels so much like flying?
You glide off into your journey, as though taking off in a plane. There’s no traffic, no effort, not a care. Instead of the sterile sealed tube of a Metro train, the open windows and doors keep you connected to the world outside. The real world, with real things - greenery, birds, buildings, and the wind in your hair - instead of the dark nothingness inside the concrete tube of a Metro train, or the railings of an aloof elevated Metro track. No announcements ruin your serenity, leaving you in silence with your thoughts. Standing at the door, gliding gracefully to a halt at your destination, and stepping off…it’s not the awkward clambering out of a narrow vehicle door. Rather, it’s as though you stepped majestically off a magic flying carpet.
#Delhi #India #PublicTransport #PublicTransit #Trains #Railways
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