Mangalore-Bangalore train

I was thrilled when I found out that the Mangalore-Bangalore train has finally started to run and was waiting to get a chance to travel in it and see if it was the same as or better than the bus journeys between the two places.

Since this weekend had three continuous holidays I decided to go home and the first thing I did was to go and book the train tickets without a thought.

When my friend and I arrived at the station the train was already there waiting for us before time but I was pleasantly surprised when the train started on dot 19.45.

My friend and I had both booked the tickets separately so we were in two different compartments. We tried to get our seats exchanged but we had no luck as in one compartment there was a huge family and in the other there was an old lady who was sick and so we couldn’t ask her to move.

I have a tendency to fall asleep whenever I travel at night so I fell asleep within one hour of the train starting. The journey was pretty smooth and except for one hour in between when I was woken up by a boy who was crying non- stop.

I reached Bangalore at around 7.15 in the morning but had to wait till about 7.45 to reach Yeshwantpur station (the last stop).

After reaching Bangalore I tried to compare and see whether it was worth travelling by train or by bus instead. What I realised was that both take the same amount of time to reach Bangalore so the time is not an issue. But I also had to take into account the 3-4 extra hours it would take me to get home i.e. 2 hours from Manipal to Mangalore station and 2 hours from Bangalore station to my house whereas if I travel by bus, I get on at Manipal and I reach near my house about 12-13 hours later.

The amount I pay for a sleeper in bus is Rs 380 whereas I spend about Rs 240 for the same in the train. But if I consider it its not much of a difference especially if I spend the money that I would save on travelling from Manipal to Mangalore station and from Bangalore station to my home.

So the only advantage I see if I travel by train is that I would not get stuck in the ghat section, during the rainy season, like I would if I went by bus (I was once in a bus which stood in the same place for about 5 hours and I ended up reaching Bangalore in the evening!!) and also the train journey is said to go through areas where you have breathtaking sceneries (these cannot be seen as the train passes through these areas at night)

So after weighing the pros and cons I have come to a decision to travel by bus unless the train reaches Bangalore in a shorter time, and (being a nature lover) I get to see the beautiful sceneries.