Darjeeling Toy train services to resume from december

Come December and tourists will get to enjoy a ride in the world renowned toy train from Siliguri all the way up to Darjeeling. It has been three years since the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways suspended services depriving many a visitor of the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
North East Frontier Railway divisional railway manager AK Sharma informed work remains pending on a small stretch between the two destinations and is expected to be completed shortly.
 “We hope to complete the repair work between Mahanadi and Ghayabari by the end of the year,” said Sharma. Huge landslides in the Tindharay and Paglajhora areas had forced the DHR to suspend services in 2011.
The Darjeeling ‘toy train’ first began running in 1881 when Sir Ashley Eden was the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. The DHR comes under the UNESCO’s world heritage sites and covers a route spanning 87km.
Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia had recently raised the issue before Union railway minister Sadananda Gowda and also intimated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said Sharma. He further said that along with the Railways, the National Highway Authority of India and the state PWD are involved in the repair work. The issue of repairing NH 55 was recently taken up Gorkhaland Territorial Administration chief executive Bimal Gurung with the Union Road Transport Ministry, added the official.

Source: EOIC