ten o'clock
At half-past two o'clock the white train , which was to leave Lourdes at three-forty , was already in the station , alongside the second platform . For three days it had been waiting on a siding , in the same state as when it had come from Paris , and since it had been run into the station again white flags had been waving from the foremost and hindmost of its carriages , by way of preventing any mistakes on the part of the pilgrims , whose entraining was usually a very long and troublesome affair . Moreover , all the fourteen trains of the pilgrimage were timed to leave that day . The green train had started off at ten o'clock , followed by the pink and the yellow trains , and the others -- the orange , the grey , and the blue -- would start in turn after the white train had taken its departure . It was , indeed , another terrible day 's work for the station staff , amidst a tumult and a scramble which altogether distracted them . However , the departure of the white train was always the event of the day which provoked most interest and emotion , for it took away with it all the more afflicted patients , amongst whom were naturally those loved by the Virgin and chosen by her for the miraculous cures . Accordingly , a large , serried crowd was collected under the roofing of the spacious platform , a hundred yards in length , where all the benches were already covered with waiting pilgrims and their parcels .