This is a step towards an attempt for making this 111-year-old toy train into a heritage rail for which the authorities have taken help from the world heritage Kalka-Shimla toy train rail.
Starting March 30, the Central Railway (CR) will ply additional toy train services on the 21-km-long Neral-Matheran and Aman Lodge-Matheran routes whose infrastructure on the hilly terrain has undergone strengthening. This is a step towards an attempt for making this 111-year-old toy train into a heritage rail for which the authorities have taken help from the world heritage Kalka-Shimla toy train rail.
To begin with, starting Friday the Central Railway authorities will run more trains on this hilly rail on the western ghats, which is closest tourist spot for Mumbaikars. "We will be operating steam engine as well," said SK Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), Central Railway.
There shall be 21 services on Fridays, 22 services on Saturdays and Sundays and 17 services on Mondays on the 3-km long Aman Lodge-Matheran section. During weekdays between Tuesday and Thursday, there shall be 14 services on the above route.
Earlier this January the CR authorities began running 2 services on the entire Neral-Matheran stretch. In October 2017, they revived this toy train route by running it on Aman Lodge-Matheran route, after it was shut since May 2016 following two back to back derailments.
Sources said that before reviving this rail they took help from the 115-year-old Kalka-Shimla world heritage rail where toy trains operate on 96-km route. "The engineers from Central Railway had come down to get a lowdown on our maintenance practices of trains and the route," said an official from Northern Railway.
The NR officials claim that they undertake maintenance of the coaches and locomotives at Kalka workshop built in 1903. Apart from this, there are regular checks of tracks undertaken.
The CR authorities are eyeing to achieve the world heritage tag for Neral-Matheran too. The Kalka-Shimla terrain is treacherous with many curves and turns. There are 102 tunnels and over 700 bridges on the Kalka-Shimla section.
From Kalka-end the narrow gauge line is covered by slums built on the hills on either side. As the train progresses at speeds of 22kmph, it passes through the Shivalik range on the foothills of Himalaya. The NR authorities operate 12 services daily.
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