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Raymond Jaravaza/ Nhlalwenhle Ncube
BRAKES squeal as metal bites metal, the train screeches to a halt and in no time, one of the train coaches suddenly resembles a mini high school.
Its 17: 55pm on a mild Tuesday afternoon and hordes of school kids clad in an assortment of colourful uniforms, a clear indication they are not from the same school, embark on the passenger train that has a made a stop at Nguboyenja station.
The air is suddenly filled with the smell of sweaty adolescent palms rushing to grab the nearest empty seats, sit in groups and engage in innocent teenage gossip on the “hottest news” of the day from school.
The B-Metro news crew is taking the ride on a passenger train from the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) station to Cowdray Park in the western suburbs of Bulawayo and its turning out to be a ride.
“We are from Sobukhazi High School and we use the train in the morning to school and later to go back home,” says a fresh faced teenage girl as she points at her friend, who is also wearing a similar uniform — a green dress, white socks and black shoes.
“Those boys are from our school and I think they live in Entumbane,” she continues, while pointing to a group of boys in grey shirts and shorts.
Sobukhazi High School is less than a kilometre from Nguboyenja station.
One corner of the coach, we are told, it’s occupied by young boys from Milton High School and their friends from a private college located in the Bulawayo Central Business District (CBD).
Twenty five minutes earlier at the NRZ station we sat in the coach, eagerly waiting for the train to start the trip to Cowdray Park, subconsciously glancing at our watches to see if the train will leave at exactly 17:30pm as indicated.
The platform at the NRZ station is, surprisingly, spotlessly clean with no litter in sight and it’s not long before we know why.
One of the security guards at the station warns two men eating boiled ground nuts (amazambane) that the platform is a “strictly no eating zone”.
17:30pm on the dot and the train makes a slow but smooth motion forward, an indication that the journey is about to start.
The diesel engine pulling six coaches blurts out huge smoke and its all systems go.
We are told the ride should take slightly over an hour to get to the final destination.
NRZ passenger trains are notoriously known for embarrassing delays but it seems we are left to eat humble pie with the Cowdray Park bound train on time.
The train cruises past a number of western suburbs — Nguboyenja, Mpopoma, Entumbane, Emakhandeni and Luveve along the winding route to Cowdray Park, dropping off hundreds of passengers making their way home from a long day at work and school.
An enterprising woman who sells vegetables near Egodini (the closed Basch Street Terminus) doesn’t miss the chance to make a few dollars on her way home in the train selling sweets, snacks and chocolates to school kids with few coins to spend.
But there is a downside to her “trade”. Hawkers are prohibited on the train.
“We are not allowed to sell in the train and if I’m caught I will lose my stuff. I don’t make much really, if I get $2 (bond) for these sweets and amaputi, then I’m happy,” said Anna Mutero.
It’s easy to see why Cowdray Park residents benefit the most from the passenger train and want it to remain a permanent feature in their daily lives.
As the train snakes into the suburb, some of the houses are less than two hundred metres from the tracks.
This is an area of Cowdray Park called “Esgodweni”, a section of the suburb so far detached from main roads where public transport is readily available. The dirt roads are so bad that kombi operators shun this area.
As the train makes a stop at Eqaqeni station (a makeshift station for passengers to disembark), barefoot kids rush from the nearby houses to meet their parents.
For the little boys and girls, the sheer sight of the train excites their curious minds.
But they make sure to keep a safe distance from the giant machine as their parents disembark.
At the final drop off point at Esgodweni station, 46-year-old Kossam Sibanda says he has been using the train since it was re-introduced last year.
But he feels the fare is unfair considering that the departure time in the morning is 6am which means one has to wake up early only to save 25 cents if it’s a one way.
“How can they charge $0,75 for a trip when kombis charge $1? It doesn’t make sense because the distance from the station to our homes is too much. The NRZ should reduce the fares, make it affordable for the majority of us who can’t afford kombis,” he said.
For children in uniform, the fare is 50 cents, which appears to be fair and they make the majority of passengers.
It’s 18:31pm and as promised it took an hour to reach the train’s final destination and the B-Metro crew blends in with other passengers making their way home in Esgodweni section — Cowdray Park suburb.
Online Reporter