Is it possible for the Indian Railways to breathe life into its old, narrow gauge steam engines and trains for tourism purposes as well as heritage value, like the United Kingdom has done with its nationwide network of heritage railways?
The idea was at the centre of a lively discussion between Paul Whittle, railway heritage expert and vice chairman of the UK-based Darejeeling Himalayan Railway Society and top Western Railway (WR) officials led by chief mechanical engineer Ravindra Gupta, chief operations manager AK Srivastav, among others.
Whittle, in course of a presentation on the heritage railway system in the UK, said that fund-raising by enthusiasts as well as Heritage Lottery Fund rising out of the National Lottery meant the heritage railways was in the best of health.
"The tourist footfall is good, and the fact that a huge number of railway enthusiasts volunteer to man various posts involved in running the railways, has also helped keep costs in control. Moreover, very stringent safety standards in the running of these heritage trains regularly has also been a cause of its success," said Whittle.
However, for cash-strapped Indian railways, the fact that it does not even have a separate fund for renovation of old engines and trains is a dampener, as railway officials at the discussion agreed. "We do not have a single workshop that can completely overhaul the steam engines we have. We have tried it in Amritsar workshop and also in Parel. We have some 31 steam engines with WR and we realised that most of the times even getting a full history of them is impossible," said Gupta.
The potential however is immense, the officials agreed, with Srivastav pointing that WR alone had some 600 kilometres of narrow gauge railway tracks, almost all of them in scenic routes. Srivastav, a heritage enthusiast himself, has also authored a book on the narrow gauge lines of Dabhoi in Gujarat.
Whittle added that the involvement of the private sector would be essential for the success of rejuvenating these heritage railway engines because it is only funds that can bring about regular runs of the train, and in turn, tourists.
"However, these narrow gauge lines are in stretches far off from the bigger stations and cannot be stand-alone ones because there will be logistical problems for the operator to get tourists to the place where the narrow gauge is situated. That will require the railways to pitch in to ensure last-mile connectivity," said Sharat Chandrayan, chief public relations officer, WR.
During the discussion, CME Gupta said that the railways could arrange for a steam engine provided the private sector or enthusiasts from the Indian Railway Fan Club Association could take up the challenge of renovating it. Just recently, two steam engines were sold to the Uttar Pradesh government at a cost of Rs16 lakh each for the latter to use at a new park being constructed at Lucknow.
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