Covid-19: Darjeeling toy train resumes services after 17 months - Details inside

The famous toy train in Darjeeling resumed its services on Wednesday (August 25) after staying shut for seventeen months. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in West Bengal. 

The DHR toy train service was supposed to begin between Darjeeling and Ghum on August 16 but was delayed due to CoVID-19.

According to a Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesperson Guneet Kaur, the train is set to run on a daily basis between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling which is approximately 88 km apart. The beginning of the toy train is set to resume touring in the area and benefit and hospitality sectors. For those who don't know, the toy train was declared a UNESCO ‘World Heritage Site’ in 1999. 

#WATCH | West Bengal: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) resumed its toy train regular services for New Jalpaiguri station to Darjeeling from today after a gap of one and a half years. pic.twitter.com/HttO3DN8LC

— ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2021

Kaur further added that the train is currently running eleven round trips between Darjeeling and Ghum using both vista dome and first-class coaches. The train is pulled by heritage steam locos which were built between 1889 and 1927, the train also uses modern engines as well which is popular among tourists and travellers as it holds a little bit of both, history and modernism. 

The train moves from New Jalpaiguri which is about 100 metres above mean sea level to Darjeeling which is 2,200 metres. The toy train service was halted when the coronavirus pandemic hit the country in March 2020.