There's a slow, slow train coming...

and if you’re on top of it, keep your head down

April 13, 2016 | Ritayan Mukherjee

When the railways arrived in 19th-century India, different regional networks sprang up. The Scindias, then rulers of the Gwalior princely state, launched the Gwalior Light Railway. Its route covers a distance of 210 kilometres and is now the longest remaining narrow gauge line in the world.

No. 52171 on this line is the only through train that connects the outpost of Sheopur Kalan to Gwalior city. It runs at a stately speed of 18 kilometres per hour on average. Which means you take ten and a half hours to complete the trip.

The train, now part of the Indian Railways, leaves Gwalior at 6.25 a.m. and I reached the station half an hour earlier, bought my Rs. 29 ticket and got on the train. It was already crowded with commuters. The “Gwalior-Sheopur NG Passenger” has seven small coaches and a capacity of around 200 travellers. But it carries at least twice that number every day. People cram into the coaches, hang by the sides, and climb on to the roof.

https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/theres-a-slow-slow-train-coming/