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The world's most dangerous train ride?
by Howie Severino.
Manila by train is
like riding into war. The railroad tracks cut through some of the densest urban
communities in the country. Irritated by their broken sleep or interrupted card
games on the tracks, local toughies pelt the train with anything within reach.
I was shooting (my camera) from the front of the train when I got hit by a
piece of wood. I was lucky.
Train personnel show scars from rocks.
That's why the conductors have screens over the glass windshields. The
passenger cars have metal screens too but no glass, so wooden windows are
pulled up in certain neighborhoods which are known to harbor shit throwers.
Yes, some crazies wait for the train to pass so they can bombard it with
poo-poo wrapped in newspapers, otherwise known as "flying saucers."
Others see the train as a convenient
garbage disposal system: they throw their bags of garbage onto the moving roof
and not have to worry about tardy garbage pick-ups.
Trackside residents nurse a deep grudge
against the passing trains, blaming them for the numerous accidents that have
occurred along the tracks over the years, even though the railroad was there
first. The victims are usually drunks or kids who get in the way of a rumbling
behemoth that cannot stop on a dime.
Trains and trackside communities are a
fatal mix. But it's yet another consequence of the country's land problem. Many
migrants and other poor people just have nowhere else to settle but one of the
most perilous places to call home.
Excerpt from Howie Severino blogpost of November 8, 2005.
To read his full entry on the worlds most
dangerous train ride click here.
You can find his blog here.
Technorati Tag: Philippines, Manila, squatters, life along the railway tracks.
