There is Shenzhen Train Station and then there is our very own Bandra Terminus. I happened to pass through both in the past month, and the experience is instructive for all who think India is on its way to becoming another China.
Shenzhen Station has a massive access area, no traffic jams due to taxis, direct linkage to the subway system, cleanliness and high-speed trains. Not to mention a road.
Bandra Terminus, which is becoming increasingly the point of arrival and departure for long-distance trains on the Western line, has none of the above. Case closed.
I want to dwell further on one aspect – the lack of a road to connect it to the rest of the city. There may have been a road once upon a time in Mumbai – right now there are only potholes. One has to drive on the road to see how bad the situation can actually be. Of course, this is a recurring situation since we citizens don’t hold our corporators and politicians to accountability, and keep voting them or slight variants back to office.
