Now, it will be easier to become a part of history and experience the legendary heritage-era romance of Steam Engine-hauled narrow gauge trains through the lush green tea plantations of Darjeeling.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) that runs six pairs of tourist trains between Darjeeling and Ghum at present has decided to run nine pairs of trains on the historic heritage track between Darjeeling and Ghum from September 10 this year to enable scores of tourists to relive the memories of steam trains.
Chief Public Relation officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Pranav Jyoti Sharma said this on Wednesday and added that from September 10, there will be nine pairs of toy trains plying on the 6 km stretch between Ghum and Darjeeling. All the three new trains would be hauled by steam locomotives which have a high heritage appeal among tourists while. He said out of the six existing toy trains now, three are hauled by Diesel locomotives and three others are hauled by steam powered locomotives.
It may be mentioned here that the Indian Railways in recognition of its social, cultural, economic and industrial value as a lifeline of India, made an application to UNESCO for World Heritage Inscription of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) in 1998. Following this, the world heritage committee of UNESCO at its 23rd session held at Marrakesh in Morocco decided to inscribe Darjeeling Himalaya Railway site, opened in 1881, on the world Heritage list. The international body recognised the DHR as the first, and still the most outstanding, example of a hill passenger railway.
Opened in 1881, the DHR applied bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problem of establishing an effective rail link across a mountainous terrain of great beauty. It is still fully operational and retains most of its original features intact.
Sharma further said that the NFR has recently refurbished as many as 14 narrow gauge coaches by which the seating capacity of these coaches has also been increased to as many as 28 seats from existing 12, 14 and 16-seater coaches. “Such refurbishment and restoration has been very difficult because Narrow Gauge rolling stock is no longer produced and spares/component etc. are also not easily available,” he said adding that with each diesel locomotive hauling three coaches and steam loco
hauling two, these nine trains will haul as many as 21 coaches during the peak season catering to the large festive season rush that is about to start.
DHR has of late been facing many challenges in the form of frequent landslides during rainy seasons especially in the portions near Paglajhora and Tindharia. Preservation and conservation of this railway is a task being undertaken by NFR in right earnest.