Tourists visiting Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) will have to wait for at least a week more to take a ride on the toy train, which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the tourism area of the park. The toy train track was damaged after heavy rains and flooding on August 29.

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According to Range Forest Officer (RFO), Rajendra Pawar, in charge of Krishnagiri Upavan tourism area in SGNP, the joy rides were discontinued from August 30 itself due to the flooding. Around 200 metres of a portion of the tracks were washed away along with the collapse of a retaining wall. “In fact, this happened around 400 meters away from the Krishnagiri station from where the toy train starts, there was also a small bridge that gave way. We got in touch with the contractors who have been carrying out rectification work and it is likely to be completed by early next week,” he said.

Pawar also explained that once the work is completed they plan to get railway engineers to carry out safety inspections. Once it’s approved, the toy train will be open for tourists.

“The sale of tickets on a Sunday is around Rs 20,000. While on a weekday it is around Rs 3,000. Apart from the financial loss, several tourists were upset that they could not ride the famous Vanrani — the toy train,” said a senior SGNP official.