I was never a fan of trains, especially if it's herein the Philippines. Whenever I think of rails and trains, the first thing that will come to my mind is the load of people, the crowd pushing each other just to get themselves a seat.
And whenever I think of the trains run by the PNR (Phil. Natl. Railways), the image of decaying coaches, stinky seats, rusty handbars and pile of squatters along the way. Don't blame me, it's how it has been for the last few years.
But a classmate yesterday asked me to accompany him in his late Christmas shopping at Tutuban Mall, Divisoria, Manila. Since I have nothing to do and was kinda bored at that time, I agreed. We left the house very early in the morning.
Although Christmas has already passed, the traffic is still heavy. We were just commuting and it was a wrong decision to travel at office rush hour. So we decided to went off the cab and try our luck on Bicutan's train station going to Tutuban.
We were lucky we made it to the morning's last ride. At 9am, the trains were already flocked with people. But unlike what you'll experience at the MRT, people are less, so is the heat. Pushing is also absent.
It was quite a ride. Definitely enjoyed my first train ride after almost 7 years. Probably because of the new coaches, new seat covers, shiny steel handlebars and of course, fresher air. The rail route was not changed obiously so it still passed by the columns of illegally positioned houses.
The train left Bicutan around 9:10am and arrived at Tutuban less than an hour after. The fare is P15.00 and it was well worth it. Trains are the fastest way to move from a place to another in this kind of traffic system we have here in the Philippines so kudos for them for paying attention to it.
