I have seen many people tag themselves as working in South Eastern Railway UK. But you will be astonished to know that South Eastern Railway UK is different from that of our own South Eastern Railway, which is a part of Indian Railway. Previously, known as BNR or Bengal Nagpur Railway, the Indian South Eastern Railway has it’s headquarters at 11 Garden Reach Road, Kolkata.
On the contrary, South Eastern Railway, UK is one of the largest networks of Railways operated in London. It is the key operator of commuter and regional services in South East London and Kent and also serves parts of East Sussex. London has a large network of underground metro rails which is also so called Tube or Underground.
While I was in London in March 2011, I stayed in Stratford. From there, I traveled to Welling o visit a distant relative. But before that I had to go to the Tower Bridge. After completing my sightseeing at Tower Bridge, I took South Eastern Railway UK to Welling. From Tower Bridge I walked up to the London Bridge station (LBG) and took the ticket to Welling (WLI) for £4.3.
The train came at 10:02 hours going to destination Dartford. The train had 6 coaches. All coaches had two sliding doors on each side. The seating arrangement was 3 by 2 and faced each other. The train did not have any pantograph or overhead equipment for electrification. It had a third rail for power connection. The trains were manned by only the motor man. There was no guard. There was sufficient display and announcements inside the coaches regarding the reaching stations and the destination in English only.
It was a fine journey experience through the countryside of England. Peeking through the window, I could see Lush greenery and exotic landscapes lined the train path. This is a country with which we share a troubled past yet, I found a striking resemblance with my countryside. The train passed through several stations including Lewisham which is a junction station. Trains to Hayes, Gravesend, Sevenoaks, Orpington are diverted from this station. Various other stations were New Cross, St. Johns, Blackheath, Kidbrooke. After crossing Falconwood, my destination was next. It took 28 minutes to reach Welling from Falconwood.
The station was more like Suburban stations in India. It had two platforms on either side of the up and down lines. It even had a foot over bridge. My relative resided near the station only. After completing the final journey I even felt honored to tag myself as working in South Eastern Railway UK.
Few other snapshots from my UK tour.
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