Then I hopped on to the train in search of my seat and paid a 200 rupee tip to the porter after some intense bargaining action. The journey was not too long, and we cut through the rural landscape surrounding the urban melting pot of Delhi. I could see fields of grain, sugar cane and yellow mustard, with ant-sized farmers and toy-sized tractors tilling their land in the distance. I saw the more modest housing of the villages and even some huts. We passed several bridges while steaming away from the Yamuna River. Later on, after eating the packed lunch offered by the attendants, I fell asleep. All in all, I found it a fast, well-serviced and enriching way to see parts of the country I would otherwise not have seen, while traveling from one city to the next.
The Indian Railways were set up during the British colonial period and were primarily used for the colonial government's administrative functions and as transportation for freight. The railways have long outlasted the colonial government, and they have evolved today to modify their tracks and carriages to expand access to some of the more challenging topographical areas of the country. For example, for the mountainous regions in the north and northeast, a narrow guage track system has been built, whereas for flat lying regions through which large quantities of freight is transported, a wide guage track is used. Ultimately the railway system is an important platform that has connected diverse regions across India. It serves to help integrate the country and therefore has had a tremendous impact on life here.
