Iosif Király, Reconstructions_Trains
I can say that the train been an important element in my life. In the 1980s, I had to commute for two years by train; I spent five to six hours every day on it. In the 1990s and early 2000s, I also travelled quite often by train, both in Romania and in Europe. During such trips, in addition to reading, I could meditate and recall many things, gestures, and deeds which would otherwise have never reached the surface from the depths of my memory.
The train compartment is an ideal place for meditating on themes such as time, space, memory, and perception. The world of the train inside the compartment is ruled by a different kind of time than the world as it is seen through the window of the moving train. The reality in the compartment is perceived by an observer who is sitting inside a compartment differently than by someone who is standing outside and for whom the train rushes by. Perhaps it was not by chance that Einstein chose the train as one of the examples for better communicating his theory of relativity to the general public.