As I remember, the railway station in my childhood was a hectic place. Someone is arriving and someone is leaving, someone is counting their suitcases and looking for a taxi, a greeting person with a bouquet of flowers is rushing around the platform at a loss, a family with two children and a pile of packages in their hands is running towards the train - and barely has time to jump into the last car... I hope they have not gone the wrong direction and will arrive exactly where they planned to.
I got used to the fact that there was always a lot going on at the station - trains, people and incidents - and for a long time I didn't notice how things were changing. Some destinations ceased to be in demand, especially those to the west, and along with trains to Tallinn or Riga, trains to cities in the Pskov region also disappeared - passenger traffic dropped and they were cancelled. The pandemic dealt another major blow to railway services. Gradually the empty platforms of long-distance trains stopped surprising me.
I was about to go to one of the suburbs that day. The commuter train is more convenient than a normal transport or a car, because it's strictly timetabled and doesn't depend on traffic jams. I arrived at the train station too early (or too late), I missed the train five minutes early, and I had to wait half an hour for the next train.
I had already got to the platforms and was wondering what to do next. It would have been boring to just stand in one place or sit on a bench. I glanced around and saw several trains in front of the long-distance trains. I was so surprised by the scene that I decided to take a walk along the trains.
There were three trains by the platforms, and around two of those trains I noticed some activity. One of the trains had arrived from Belarus some time before. Passengers had already left the train, but conductors were still on duty near the doors of some wagons. The second train was preparing to depart, but there was still more than an hour to go, and only the most nervous passengers arrived so far in advance.
There were few people on the platform and no one was in any hurry to go anywhere. Someone was strolling around the platform, someone was discussing the route with the railway officials, someone was taking photos against the backdrop of the train. Being photographed in front of a train is an important part of the journey, no doubt. My family archive contains such pictures. The conductor in one of the carriages started heating up the water heater and the smell of smoke, inseparable from memories of train journeys in my childhood, floated over the platform.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |