Catching the magic on suburban trains

Last budget, this ride was a promise. A year later, to the hour, it's for real a spanking new green and ochre nine-coach train that has wiped out the last vestiges of an era of afternoon commuting misery in one of India's fastest growing suburban sections.
This daily 30km joyride begins in Barrackpore at 3.44pm and ends in Sealdah around 4.30. From the first lurch, as it pulls out of the British-era cantonment, to its last heave on the tasseled tracks of Sealdah, the train seems tuned to the cadence of change.The time frame of the transition, or train-sition' if you like it, is a milestone in the Indian history of political promises one year.
Hours after Mamata Banerjee made her third budget speech in UPA colours, TOI went back to ground zero to seek a performance appraisal from the aam admi'. "See for yourself," was the most common answer.
When promises flew into Bengal in swarms last year, few had expected the delivery rate to be as good. But amid criticism of a lopsided budget and bleeding the railways, Mamata took care (even at the cost of being called "selfish") not to let her home projects derail. And it's in the regular rather than the spectacular where her success lies.
"Look there," says co-commuter Santosh Ghosh, pointing to a row of new water taps at Belgharia station. "I've been travelling on this route for two decades but have never seen proper drinking water facilities," says the former professor, who now teaches photography. "It's too early to judge Mamata but she deserves credit for restoring basic amenities. Even a year ago, we would cram into overcrowded trains, some would hang precariously on the doors." On Thursday, both Ghosh and his camera found a seat, thanks to the Barrackpore local and a fleet of similar new suburban trains that have made commuting a pleasure.
A lot has changed in a year. In 2010, during a ride to Sealdah on the down Kalyani local on rail budget day, the stations had a dusty, worn look, announcement systems malfunctioned, the stink from toilets filled the air and the train arrived late. The experience was depressing. Thursday was enlightening.
At Barrackpore station, where the journey began, the sound of Manna Dey's ami jamini, tumi shoshi he' wafted from the PA system, which now doubles as a round-the-clock radio channel. "It sets the mood," says Roshni De, a first-year MA student. "It started a couple of months after last year's rail budget."
As the train enters Dum Dum, she points to the brisk-paced construction work. The subway stairways have been broken down to build escalators and the platform looks much bigger. "They have lengthened it to accommodate 12-coach EMUs," says Tanuja Roy, a 32-year-old IT professional. Tanuja is happy that she can finally coax her fianc', who stays in Agarpara, out of a bus and into the local. "He's from Mumbai, but balked at the state of our locals. Now, he's ready to travel with me," she says.
It's the simple pleasures that Mamata seems to have returned to one of the biggest urban vote-banks in the state. As she read out her budget speech in Parliament on Thursday, unveiling Vision 2020', there was some anxiety among her cadres about its effect on Mission 2011'. But when she pinch-hit criticism of her budget out of the House with Sehwag-esque disdain and announced 50 new suburban train services for Kolkata besides a slew of new Metro routes, they were beaming again. "Didir jeet hobei (she'll definitely win the polls)," says Mayukh Banerjee, a college student and a Chhatra Parishad activist, before getting down at Bidhan Nagar.
But it was in Sealdah that the fantasy bubble burst. The promise of turning it into a "world class" station has remained on paper. For all her suburban sops, Sealdah is still a model of chaos and mismanagement, and "a nightmare during peak hours", according to Roshni. That, Mamata promised during her budget speech, will be over by next year. We'll come back to see.