The Indian government announced recently that passenger trains would resume from Tuesday onwards after a gap of 51 days. The decision brought cheer to many around the country who had been stuck outside their cities or states due to the coronavirus lockdown.
To commemorate the unprecedented reopening of the services, The Ministry if Railways took to Twitter to and shared a moving poem as a tribute to the train.
The poem was accompanied by a video of a train that had started to run on May 12.
ना आपातकाल में रुकी थी,ना युद्धकाल में थमी हूँ !सावधानी थी समय की माँग, उसे पूरा करने में जुटीं हूँ ! देशवासियों की सेवा में,स्टेशन पर तैयार खड़ी हूँ !मैं भारत की जीवन रेखा,करने देश की सेवा,फिर से अपनों को अपनों से मिलाने,आज फिर से चल पड़ी हूँ !भारतीय रेल ! pic.twitter.com/YaKMW4H61S— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) May 12, 2020
The poem calls the train "India's lifeline" and outlines how the Indian railways did not stop operations ever since its inception and even ran during the emergency. However, in keeping with the unprecedented pandemic, the railways decided to cease operations.
But now that the government had decided to ease restrictions, the Railways is ready to once again serve the citizens of India.
The poem was widely liked by Netizens who shared the video on the microbloggig site and praised the Railways.
However, some took a dog at the railways, claiming the ministry was busy doing poetry while passengers struggled to book tickets. Yet others commented on the migrant crisis with several reports claiming workers were charged extra fee for their rides home on special "shramik" trains.
