Siliguri: Senior railway officials said they were
taking initiatives to promote two mountain railways in the country along
with the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) to attract both domestic
and international tourists.
The Kalka-Shimla Railway and the
Nilgiri Mountain Railway, which also are world heritage sites recognised
by the Unesco like DHR, are the services that the railways want to
promote for tourism.
"Both these heritage railway services are
equally enchanting for tourists and train enthusiasts. The DHR is known
across the world and people keep flocking too Siliguri and Darjeeling to
take a ride in the toy train. Now, we want the other two mountain
railways of our country to be popular among the domestic and
international travel fraternity," said Subrata Nath, the executive
director (heritage) of the Railway Board, over phone from Delhi.
The
Kalka-Shimla Railway, or KSR, runs along a 96km stretch between Kalka
and Shimla. It was declared a heritage by the Unesco in 2008.
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, which connects the hill town of Ooty, is a 46km long service.
As part of the initiative, sources said, both these railways have formed a multi-disciplinary management unit.
"So
far, divisional railway managers of the concerned divisions under the
zones of northern and southern railways used to take care of these two
railways, unlike DHR, where we have a director deputed with other staff.
Recently, dedicated multi-disciplinary management units have been
formed in both these railways," said a source.
The Telegraph
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