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Ordeal of a Delayed Train Ride: Gori to Tbilisi

July 3, 2008

Special Report

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

You might remember the now famous words of President Mikheil Saakashvili: “Who does not want to travel by our train, let them get off”… this was the message of the president to opposition parties. The train of the National Movement has been running for four years already but Gori district population cannot take train to Tbilisi yet…

The trains have been running from Tbilisi to Tskhinvali region for fifty years. The railway line has not been repaired since that time. Moreover, in 2004 Zurab Zhvania, late Prime-Minister of Georgia, arrived in Tskhinvali and stated the railway must be repaired. The works started near the village of Nikozi but several days later grenades exploded close to workers and both sides gave up the efforts to carry out the necessary repairs.

Anyway, the fifty-year-old train, with the nickname “Stalineli”, did not stop functioning. During communist regime Tskhinvali was called “Stalineli” and the nickname of the train originated from there; it was the only train that served the locals of the Tskhinvali district.

A way from upper zone to lower zone…

The signal of Stalineli at 5:00 AM means that the train started from the village of Nikozi. Villagers from the upper zone are carrying cherries, strawberries and even tomatoes by carts, mini-tractors, and hand-carts to the platform. Some of them are also carrying apples; it takes almost 2 hours to travel the distance 50 kilometers. Generally, the train moves at the speed of 20-30 kilometers per hour on the old railway tracks.

The loaded train enters Gori station making cracking sounds. Already the new passengers are waiting on the platform for station. Those, who are lazy to go to Tbilisi sells their fruit at the Gori station. Anyway, the train some is overcrowded and departs the station within five minutes.

Then all hell starts:

The “Stalineli” with five carriages stops at 13 small platforms and 3 large stations between Gori and Tbilisi. Active passengers jump into the train through broken windows at various platforms. People can get on the train through that way only in load carriage. Nobody can enter into other train cars.

The boxes with fruit take up more space than do the people on the train.

“-Watch out! Do not smash my berries…”
“-I am not going across your yard! The train is for passengers and not for luggage,” people complain about each other.
“-Have not you seen that there is no place in the train; why have you got on? Do not sit on that box, you will break it.”
“-You were shouting Misha, Misha during demonstrations. And start shouting now too. Maybe he will hear and assist you,” workers of the railway department started joking; they joined passengers in the village of Grakali in Kaspi district; they stole some fruit from boxes and ate it.
“-How much should you eat? What shall I take to Tbilisi? Nobody will buy the box if it is not full to the top,” the woman, owner of the box, started shouting from the middle of the carriage. She is hardly standing on her feet but cannot take her eyes from the boxes.

She must be a merchant. She bought several boxes of various fruit at wholesale at the Gori Station and now she is taking them to Tbilisi to sell at three and four times the wholesale price.

-“Bring water, quickly, a woman has fainted…lead her to the window to breath air,” the men sitting next to the window got up and let her sit down. If somebody does not faint, nobody will let other passenger to rest on the seats. The passengers stuck in the corridor are in the worst situation. They cannot move forwards or back. The buckets are in front of them and boxes are behind. “Get ready to pay fees…!” money collector enters the carriage with much difficulty; two policemen are accompanying him. If somebody does not pay the fee, the policemen will force him/her out of the carriage.

“Hei, lady pay the fee; I am talking with you!” the policemen is shouting. “Security” is written on his uniform; however it is difficult to realize whose rights he is protecting-passengers’ or the cashier's?

“Why the hell should I pay? People smashed all my fruit, what shall I sell now?” an old woman is complaining who is holding a small bucket with strawberry. There is no place to put the bucket on and besides that the woman is afraid people will squash it.

“If you do not have money why are you traveling by train? At least let me eat your strawberries,” the police officer held out to take the fruit from her.

“Keep your hands away. If you want to eat it, pay the money. Or eat those cherries,” protects the old woman her bucket with hands. The money collector is arguing with railway workers who generally are not willing to pay the fees.

The argument with railway workers does not finish easily. The cashier loses his temper and attacks them. “Why should I need your documents? If controllers were following me now, they would have fired me by all means. Just take traveling tickets and show them instead of payment,” the cashier is shouting at railway workers who are showing their cards that have neither photo nor any signature on them.

“We do not have time to apply for tickets everyday. Sometimes our director is not in his office; we finish our work in the evening and rush to the station to catch the train. How can we queue for the ticket everyday?” The workers replied and finally they are the winners.

“They were employed as cashiers at very early age and cannot differ a carriage from the train. But now they disregard other people. I have been working at the railway department since the Great Patriotic War. The freshmen make me pay for traveling and extorts as much money as possible from us,” said the worker.

“Who respects our work? The train can reach Tbilisi only at midday and we are always late for work. The boss will rebuke and then fire us; they cannot dismiss us directly but will use some tricky methods to get rid of us. The new boss of railway department stated he would not like workers from villages in his department. He said we should cultivate land. And based on the current situation I think it will really happen,” said another worker.

The train stops for half an hour at Ksani station if a train loaded with petrol is following it. The former one should wait for the latter and let it pass; the delay lasts for nearly 20 minutes.

Forty minutes later the train reaches the surrounding area of Tbilisi where it is always hot. The sun has risen long before and it is impossible to breath in the carriage. The smoke makes the air more thick to breath. Several windows do not have any glass; every smoker smokes here; but do not think that they smoke expensive cigarettes (that have lighter smell); poor workers and peasants smoke only non-filter cigarettes.

One hour and forty minutes later Stalineli enters the Didube Station in Tbilisi. Part of passengers gets off here and another part travels up to Borjomi Station.

“We have been traveling for so long time that now it is very late to do anything in the capital,” and now everybody is going to be late for work. Nurses are late for the shift at hospitals, students are late for their lectures, and peasants are late for the market. The passengers clean their dirty trousers and shoes at the water-fountains. Now they have to stand in the queue here too; some people are thirsty others want to wash up after the ordeal of a train ride.

 

 

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