Matheran's toy train will chug again

Come January 26, the beloved toy train that trundles up to Matheran from Neral, will be in service again.

Officials from the Central Railways (CR) have been conducting safety trials on the entire 21 km section of the narrow gauge line that climbs up the nearest hill station to the metro city. In November 2017, the toy train had resumed partial service after 18 months, plying for 3 km from Neral to Aman Lodge. "We plan to operate two services a day between Neral and Matheran," said SK Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), Central Railway.

Services were suspended in May 2016, following two back-to-back derailments. Since then, CR has been carrying out maintenance work such as replacing and renewing tracks, building crash barriers and walls on curves to prevent the train from derailing and falling in gorges, lifting tracks buried in the famous red soil, and so on. The total cost of the toy train project has crossed Rs 11 crore.

CR has also revived the original steam engine of the train. The British-era narrow gauge toy trains were commissioned on April 15, 1907.