Heavy rainfall triggered landslides in NH55 and NH10, trees uprooted, toy train held up

12:02 PM

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Siliguri

Darjeeling Siliguri, July 4: Heavy rainfall since last night triggered landslides and brought down trees along NH55 and NH10, disrupting a toy train and road traffic for hours.

Narendra Mohan, the area officer of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, said a tree had been uprooted and fallen on tracks and NH55, which run parallel, at Rongtong. A Darjeeling-bound toy train was held up at Rongtong for more than two hours after the tree fall.

"The diesel train with 35 passengers left NJP around 8.30am. However, it had to stop at Rongtong because of the tree uprooted in the heavy rainfall. It took almost two hours to remove the tree from the tracks and the toy train resumed its journey towards Darjeeling at 3.30pm," said Mohan.

Rongtong is 20km from here.

The uprooted tree also disrupted traffic on NH55 between Gayabari and Tindharia at one end and Siliguri at the other end.

Traffic on NH10 was disrupted for five hours as heavy rain had ripped out a tree and caused a landslide. The tree fell on the highway at Labarbotay, 55km from here, while the landslide hit the road further 20km away.

Heavy rainfall triggered landslides in NH55 and NH10, trees uprooted, toy train held up 

"It has been raining continuously since last night and this led to landslips at several spots on NH10. The two major disruptions were at Labarbotay, where a tree had fallen on the highway, and another spot 20km further uphill. Vehicles had been stuck since noon and traffic resumed when the highway was cleared at the two spots around five hours later," said a source.

The Regional Meteorological Office in Jalpaiguri said the rainfall would continue throughout sub-Himalayan Bengal for the next few days.

"The southwest monsoon has set in and is strong over the region. This is leading to consistent rainfall in the sub-Himalayan Bengal. Heavy to very heavy rain, measuring 70mm to 200mm, has been forecast in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts in the next 48 hours," said a Met Office source.

In 24 hours till 8.30am today, it had rained around 70mm in Darjeeling. In other areas, the rainfall ranged between 20mm and 60mm, a Met Office source said.

Telegraph

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Darjeeling toy train cuts a man into halves near ‪Sonada‬

10:52 PM

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Sonada

Man Mowed Down by Train Near ‪Sonada‬

Reports: Tenzing Sangayla Bhutia

17 June 2016 Darjeeling Sonada: The World famous UNESCO's World Heritage Darjeeling toy train cuts an unidentified man in half and drags one half of the body all the way to Sonada while the other the half of his body was found near 8th Mile 4 km from Sonada.

People in Sonada were in for a shock when the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) also known toy train pulled in tonight. Along with the train came the dead body of a male which was stuck to the lower half of the train.

People would later find that the train had cut the man in half, with half of his body being found near 8th Mile, which is 4 kms away from Sonada town and the other half got pulled along with the train to the station.

The police have cordoned off the train and are currently trying to ascertain who the dead individual is.

Darjeeling toy train cuts a man into halves near ‪Sonada‬

The Railway authorities in collaboration with the pulled out the dead body from underneath the train.

Darjeeling toy train cuts an unidentified man in halves

Via The DC

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Darjeeling Toy train long distance service put on hold

2:47 PM

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Tourism

DARJEELING 13 Jun 2016 The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway toy train service along the 87km route from Darjeeling to New Jalpaiguri station has been temporarily suspended  after three of its diesel engines broke down a few days ago and are presently under repairs.

The DHR has four diesel engines, but three being non-functional, with the latest breakdown happening on June 10, the Darjeeling-New Jalpaiguri long distance service was forced to be suspended. DHR  area manager Narendra Mohan today confirmed that the Darjeeling-NJP service has been put on hold till the diesel engines are repaired.

“Due to technical faults, three of our engines have broken down over the past few months forcing us to halt the 87km service. We hope to resume service from Wednesday but on alternative days, as we can get only one of the three engines repaired. However, we will try our utmost to have all the diesel engines up and running at the earliest,” he said.

Darjeeling Toy train

The joy-rides on steam engines from Darjeeling to Ghoom and diesel services from Darjeeling to Kurseong and back are in operation though. Presently, there are about 14 steam engines  and four diesel engines for the DHR toy train.

Via EOI

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Darjeeling toy train get glass walls for engine view

9:04 AM

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Tourism

Darjeeling June 8: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has replaced the opaque walls at the rear and front ends of two first class coaches with glasses so that travellers can see the more than century-old steam engine pull the train.

Narendra Mohan, the area officer of DHR, said the refit compartments were being used for toy trains running between Darjeeling and Ghoom since May.

He said two more coaches were also being given glasses at either ends and they would be put to use in two weeks.

"Tourists around the world come to Darjeeling to take a ride on the Unesco World Heritage railway. In order to make their ride more enjoyable and fulfilling, we have renovated two first class coaches and added glass windows at the rear and front ends. Prior to this, the coaches had opaque walls and the passengers in each of them could not see what was happening in the other coaches. But now they can easily do so," said Mohan.

The DHR compartments with glasses at the rear and front ends - file photo

The new feature has been introduced mainly to enable travellers to see how the steam engine functions. "They will now be able to see the driver operating the engine and the fireman feeding coal into the furnace," said Mohan.

"Earlier passengers could see these sights only when the train negotiated a bend. But now, they can see it anytime without having to leave their seats and rush to the windows. These coaches will be exclusively used in steam-driven joy rides between Darjeeling and Ghoom. Apart from the view in front, the tourists will also get to see the scenery behind through the glass," he added.

The coaches were renovated at Tindharia workshop - the locomotive and carriage workshop of the toy train - and the Siliguri loco shed.

While two of the coaches have already been put into use since the beginning of May, the remaining two will be in service within next fortnight.

The DHR official said the size of side glass windows of the four coaches had been made bigger so that tourists got a full view of the sceneries.

Telegraph

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Darjeeling toy train resumes its daily train service between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling

9:48 AM

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Tourism

Siliguri, May 23: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will resume its daily train service between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling next week, more than five months after it had been rescheduled to thrice a week because of lack of diesel engines.

Narendra Mohan, the area officer of the DHR, said daily services between NJP and Darjeeling halted in January when one of the four diesel engines had developed problems.

"We had to run the services on alternate days, instead of everyday, because one of the diesel engines had developed a snag and was sent for repairs. We were short of engines and we had to reduce the number of trips on the route. Since January, we have been operating the trains on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays," Mohan said.

"But the engine has been restored and is back with the DHR. We will conduct trial runs to see if it is functioning properly and will commence regular services from NJP to Darjeeling by next week," he said.

Additional coaches have been attached to toy trains on the Darjeeling-Ghoom route since May 19 to cater to tourists.

"Normally, there are two first-class coaches but now there are four. The footfall of tourists has increased in the past one week. Two coaches were not enough," Mohan said. "We are planning to keep the additional coaches till June."

The four coaches can ferry around 120 passengers and the cost is Rs 630 per person.

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UNESCO to Survey ‪‎Darjeeling‬ Himalayan Railway Next Month

7:43 AM

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heritage

Writes: Mrinalini Sharma

A six-member Unesco team will visit the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway for five days next month to conduct a survey of the World Heritage Site.

The visit is part of formulating# a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan - a blue print on conservation, management and sustainable development of toy train.

Officials of the DHR said the team would be here from April 9 to 13 and visit different stations of the hill railway.

"A team of Unesco experts will visit the DHR for five days from April 9 to 13. We have been informed that this is a visit before work on formulating the CCMP begins. The team will visit all stations of the hill railway, including Tindharia workshop," said Narendra Mohan, the area officer of the DHR.

"This will be a field survey of the DHR to understand the landscape on which the heritage railway is, various components of the DHR and other important details about its conservation and management. The team will have three officials from the Unesco's New Delhi office and three Unesco experts from different countries. The preparation of the CCMP will take at least two years," he added.

Darjeeling‬ Himalayan Railway

The CCMP is mandatory for all Unesco World Heritage properties.

The master plan for the DHR will be formulated by the Unesco experts in collaboration with the Indian Railways that would provide the funds.

Unesco has said the plan should cover all aspects like institutional, legal and economic and ensure that the "Outstanding Universal Value" should be protected.

Paul Whittle, the vice-chairman of UK-based Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society (DHRS), wrote an e-mail to The Telegraph about the visit.

"It is great news that work is about to start on this long-awaited DHR Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan, funded by Indian Railways and led by a UNESCO appointed panel of experts. This initial visit is the essential first step in a lengthy and wide-ranging study that will form the basis of a robust and lasting plan for the conservation and sensitive development of this World Heritage railway," he wrote.

"We know that UNESCO will be seeking input and recommendations from a wide body of local organizations and other bodies. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society will certainly be contributing to UNESCO's work," the e-mail read.

Established in 1881, the DHR was accorded the Unesco World Heritage status in 1999.

It is the second railway in the world to be given a heritage status after the Semmering Railway in Austria in 1998.

Telegraph

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Darjeeling toy rtain to add extra coaches for Christmas-New Year season

8:20 AM

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Tourism

Siliguri, Dec. 22: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will add one extra coach to each of the three diesel-run toy trains for the joy rides to accommodate tourists who flock to the hills during the Christmas-New Year season.

The additional compartments on the Darjeeling-Ghoom-Darjeeling route would be introduced from December 25.

Narendra Mohan, the area officer of the DHR, said the decision to add the coaches was taken because there had been an increase of around 10 per cent in online reservations for the joy rides since the holiday season began this time.

"We have noticed that the online reservations for the DHR joy rides have risen to around 80 per cent in the past two-three days, which is around 10 per cent more compared to the previous years. So, we have decided to add an extra coach for all diesel-driven joy rides to accommodate more tourists," said Mohan.

A diesel-driven toy train in the Darjeeling hills. File picture

Currently, the DHR offers seven joy rides, including a steam-run Red Panda that plies between Kurseong and Darjeeling.

The six other joy rides are between Darjeeling and Ghoom.

Three trains on the route are diesel-driven and the three others run on steam.

"The reason for attaching additional coaches to the diesel-driven trains is that they (the engines) can haul up to four coaches. The steam-driven engines can pull only two compartments. We will run the extra coaches till the reservations come back to normal," Mohan said.

DHR sources said a first-class coach has 28 seats and by adding the extra coaches, 84 more passengers can be accommodated for the joy rides daily.

On December 2, the DHR had resumed the toy train service between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling. The route had been shut since June 2010 because of a landslide at Paglajhora.

While one train travels from NJP to Darjeeling, another one runs from Darjeeling to NJP everyday.

"The occupancy has been fairly good in the past three weeks. In fact, in the past three days, the train that travels uphill from NJP to Darjeeling had full occupancy," Mohan said.

Source: Telegraph

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Politics can stay away for 10 years

8:08 AM

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Politics

Vivek Ghatani

The toy train and National Highway 55 have become prodigious synonyms in the hills. The landslides are the spot spoiler therefore giving fresh headaches to the authorities of the small train. Not anymore for the highway authorities because as long as the highway is not repaired and maintained, all troubles is the small train headache.

The fresh landslides affected direct train services for DHR is a testimony of how poor developed are the hills. But people in politics are not really worried for it as the more time they take to repair, the longer is their political extension. The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) can escape here because you have no authority to repair the road that has been non-functional since years.

How on earth residents along National Highway 55 are spending life has no impact on the leaders of recent times in the hills. Ofcourse for them there are always more options. The Rohini Road has served best options for Kurseong and Darjeeling to reach Siliguri. Simultaneously a resident in Tindharia has to pay Rs 40 per head per ride when they have to reach Siliguri or Kurseong. That alone means a fare of Rs 80 (up and down) abruptly raising the expense.

The DHR has bored the brunt of major landslides like the residents along Mahanadi, Ghayabari and Tindharia. The small train, infamous all over the world for its manoeuvring engineering works, has been on the low side when it comes to allocation of budget for its maintenance from the centre. The earning for the DHR reportedly has dipped down drastically thus making it difficult to sustain.

The restoration of Highway could have well supported the sustainability for both DHR and residents. Time has come for the Mamata Banerjee to deliver her Switzerland promise for the hills although Calcutta never turned into London as she ascertained.

Politics can stay aside in the hills for some 10 years now because the past three decades of politics for Gorkhaland has hindered development in a greater scale. The loss for no development or rather maintenance of what it has can invariably felt by the common man

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Toy train resumes Darjeeling-NJP service after 5 years

7:43 AM

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Tourism

 Mrinalini Sharma

World heritage, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway today resumed its full-fledged toy-train service along the whole length of 80km tracks from New Jalpaiguri (NJP ) to Darjeeling after a gap of five years.
The toy train service from NJP to Darjeeling, the most sought-after choice of tourists, has been suspended since June 14, 2010, after a major landslide swept away 500 metres of NH55 at Paglajhora - located 35km from here - and the track running parallel to it.

Toy train resumes Darjeeling-NJP service

Although the toy trains used to run from NJP till Gayabari, another landslide on the highway at Tindharia in September 2011 cut short the joy ride till Chunabhati. Chunabhati is 27km from Siliguri and Gayabari is 7km uphill.

The resumption of Siliguri-Darjeeling service today was a low-key affair with no fanfare. The diesel-driven toy train hauling two first class coaches and a second class one started its journey to Darjeeling from the NJP station around 8.50am with a single passenger Edward Copperman from Ireland.

"I arrived in Siliguri on Tuesday and got to know through Internet that the DHR service from Siliguri to Darjeeling would resume today after a gap of nearly five years. The toy train is very popular in Ireland and I have heard that the scenery along the route is spectacular. This is my first visit to Darjeeling and it feels great that I am the first passenger to board the Unesco World heritage train which is resuming its journey from here to Darjeeling after five years," said Copperman who works for a travel agency.

The scheduled departure of the train from NJP is 8.40am and its scheduled arrival at Darjeeling is at 4.15pm. Although the train departs from NJP, the toy-train service is popularly referred to as the Siliguri-Darjeeling service.

When the toy train reached Siliguri Junction at 10am, eight more passengers boarded the train.
Among them was Shweta Rani from Bhagalpur in Bihar, who along with her husband and two children, had come for a holiday to Darjeeling.

"We had arrived in Siliguri yesterday and were supposed to go to Darjeeling by road today. However, we got to know through Internet that the Siliguri-Darjeeling service would be starting today. So, we decided to travel by it. My children had wanted to take a ride in the heritage railway during our Darjeeling visit and their wish has been fulfilled," said Shweta.

In March 2013, Unesco - which had conferred World Heritage status on the DHR in 1999 - had rapped the Indian Railways over the delay in restoration of the tracks at Tindharia and Paglajhora and resumption of service from NJP to Darjeeling.

In February 2014, the toy train service resumed from NJP to Gayabari after restoration of the tracks at Tindharia.

"The restoration of tracks at Paglajhora was completed on December 13 last year and trial runs were being conducted since December 24. We had applied for permission to restart the Siliguri-Darjeeling service to the Northeast Frontier Railway and got it a few days back. So, we are starting full-fledged daily service from NJP to Darjeeling with passengers from today. It will be a regular service from Siliguri and online reservations will start as soon as the service has been updated in the railway reservation system. Till then, we will provide manual tickets to the passengers," said a DHR official at Siliguri Junction.

Another train service from Darjeeling to Siliguri started from Darjeeling at 10.15am today and reached Siliguri after 8pm.

Source: Telegraph,

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People of Darjeeling hills as a symbol of Toy Train

9:25 PM

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Politics

Anmol Mukhia for Indian Gorkhas

People of Darjeeling hills have high time to realise for their better future. People living in Darjeeling hills have missed the opportunity in the past and not yet able to capitalise the present. The beauty of natural resources and simplicity of people are ruined and exploited by the dirty politics played by the State and the local elites. Metaphorically the life of the hills has been similar situation like UNESCO heritage “Darjeeling Toy Train”, which function is only to attract tourist moving along at a snail pace.

Cartoon also submitted by Anmol Mukhia

For the betterment and to secure the future of Darjeeling hills, the reformation was initiated by many good leaders who had enough courage, virtue with self sufficient in both economic and social status. Similar lesson can be learnt from the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) former president late Madan Tamang and Prof Mahendra P Lama of Jawaharlal Nehru University, who fulfilled the criteria of the mention above. Late Madan Tamang was fighting for the cause of Gorkha future hoping to get no rewards for the self. Exaggeratedly he had self sufficient economy to look after his family generation for decades. On the other hand Prof Mahendra P Lama who has already secured high position in Gorkha society always encouraged the hills people for the “farming of knowledge”.
Neither during the time of Late Madan Tamang in 2010 political movement, nor during the call of Prof Mahendra P Lama in Darjeeling Lokh Sabha 2014 election, where half of the hills population refuted to follow them. Instead that half population of hills shrouded the illegal activities in hills and supported the groups or party which was opaque in their policy making of hills. Implicitly laudable contribution of those leaders towards the Darjeeling hills was pessimistically derided by the hills society. But the era of techno-scientific development have also given the equal platform to the social media which have played the crucial role by highlighting the facts with the larger perspectives of the society.

Social Media like facebook reflects that the majority of youths are enthusiastic to support the leader like Prof Mahendra P Lama likewise they supported the Late Madan Tamang before. Hypothetically the very natures of youngster’s perspectives towards them have fundamental two reasons behind it- Firstly the youth are the future of tomorrow and the support reflects the concerned to reach the individual triumph in turmoil. Secondly the false promises of ruling party have left with debilitating effect resulting into the structural malaise in Darjeeling hills.

Ruling party in Darjeeling hills has neither been close to the promises of the dream land i.e., Gorkhaland, neither been influential by providing the micro essential needs of the society. Histories have proved that threat towards the society has resulted into a boomerang weapon towards the dictatorship or in the belief no one has escape from the ‘Karma’. Instead of doing justice to the society by fighting audaciously, the ruling leaders were being gullible by the State mechanism of Gorkha Territorial Administration resulting it into compromising with the old statehood demand.
This shows the leader’s fake lofty desires as neither deterministic nor futuristic. They have yet neither recognised the past to be determined in their demands nor have yet been able to secure the present crisis of hills for the future. The situation has served no one in the hills but only the few elites to corroborate their manhandling or ‘dadagiri’ resulting it into various bands or strikes. Result of this the very nature of tourism flow has been decreased, college and school system and shops were called band, tea industry and other product have been hampered. Thus Darjeeling hills are been in turmoil and have not being able to insulate their future. These enervate the mass and slower them to functioning in every fields of society. Today toy train is known for the slow moving train in the world, similarly the Darjeeling hills people have been left out as toy train in India which have no other option left than to attract tourism.

What can be done?
Darjeeling hills people have freedom of will because of the democratic values, which leads towards the better life like any other citizens. But the whole idea of ‘freedom’ has been traded with ‘bravery’ system with the terminology of Gorkhas. The term Gorkhas itself is a problematic when it is only seen from bravery of using khukuri (Gorkha Sword). Isn’t climbing the highest mountain seen as bravery? Or landing in moon or any other planet so called bravery? The irony of hills is we are still in hangover of the colonial definition of our masters, when we know that we are free from our masters. Competing with the toughest competition and living a life of free will also connotes bravery. Therefore Darjeeling hills have to think twice to use free will to avoid chaos in future and not to repeat the same mistake again.

Free will is given to everyone and it is also known as gift of God. It was violates by the authority at past, therefore a mechanism of supreme laws i.e., Constitution, was built to safeguard the freedom of will. When there is a lack of freedom of will, there is no to freedom as in case of North Korea where nothing is above the supreme leaders. However freedom was been enjoyed by many brave people resulted into free from slavery system and right to freedom was provided also to uproot the authoritative leaders.

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Darjeeling Toy train accident in Kurseong, one tourist dead

8:46 AM

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Darjeeling toy train

A toy train carrying more than 50 tourists hurtled down sloping rail tracks in Kurseong yesterday as its wheels skidded, causing the death of a Calcutta lady who may have fallen off.

The alertness of a Siliguri-based businessman saved lives in the three coaches. Giridharilal Gan, a bookseller from Siliguri, turned the wheel-like emergency brake - each coach has one - as the guard on duty on the train had jumped off like several passengers had.

(Bottom left) The toy train at the accident spot; Giridharilal Gan (above), the bookseller from
Siliguri whose presence of mind saved co-passengers. Picture by Suman Tamang

Tourists today spoke of the horrifying "death-train-like" experience as they saw a co-passenger leaping out with a kid in her arms.

According to co-passengers, Beliaghata's Moly Pal, 51, jumped, too, but did not survive. Her brother, however, said Moly may have fallen off.

When the 57 tourists started the Jungle Safari ride from Siliguri Junction at 10.35am on Republic Day, the train was late by 35 minutes.

The to-and-fro ride from Siliguri to Gayabari in Kurseong subdivision, snaking through the Mahananda wildlife park and with a 15-minute halt before return, takes five-and-a-half hours. Tourists embarking at 10am can expect to be back in Siliguri around 3.30pm.

But as the train started late yesterday, the operators said they would not go the whole stretch up to Gayabari - 35km from Siliguri Junction - but till Tindharia, which is 30km from Siliguri. As a consolation to the tourists, the driver said there would be a stop for about an hour at Tindharia, so tourists can go to nearby shops.

Toy trains rarely move at a speed more than 20kmph, making them inconvenient for long rides or daily commute.

The train reached Tindharia at 12.45pm and started for Siliguri at 1.45pm.

Gan said: "I was in a group of 24 people and we were in the last of the three coaches. As the train was moving downhill, it seemed to have picked up speed. Then we saw a person jump off and realised something must be wrong," Gan said. "Soon, the guard, who was in our coach, also leapt out."

Seeing the guard jump off, some of the women passengers panicked and started crying. "The doors and windows were rattling. People were yelling," Gan said.

By then, some passengers had started shouting that the brakes had failed - the railways did not agree with this theory, though an official said the wheels slipped on the tracks despite the application of the brakes.

Gan said he knew there was a wheel-like emergency brake at the rear of every coach as "I have travelled in toy train several times before". "I ran to the back of the coach. I rotated the brake wheel thrice. Nothing happened, the train was still hurtling down. When I rotated the wheel the fourth time, it screeched to a halt after couple of minutes," he said.

The train came to a halt near Chunabhatti station, which is a couple of kilometres from Tindharia.

"This entire thing happened in five to seven minutes, but the experience was horrifying. Either the train would have gone off the tracks and fallen into a gorge ahead or it would have rammed into homes and shops at the side of the tracks and killed more people," the 44-year-old, who has a bookshop in Siliguri's Collegepara, said.

After the train stopped, local people helped the passengers disembark.

The driver, Gan said, was still in the engine room. "He said there had been a technical problem and that he had no way of stopping the train other than applying the emergency brake which I had done."

Nikita Saha, a Siliguri-based dentist on the train with her eight-year-old daughter Neha, said the morning "joy ride became a death ride".

She said: "Some passengers were jumping off. A lady who did that lost her life, it was horrifying." The "quick action of this gentleman (Gan) saved all of us who did not jump off," Nikita said.

Kartik Das, another Siliguri resident, said he saw "a woman jump from the first coach. Within seconds, another woman carrying a child in her lap, followed."

He said when the train stopped "we ran uphill along the tracks to locate those who had jumped off. We found the woman, who had jumped first, lying near the tracks, unconscious. The woman who had jumped after her with her child had suffered injuries but both were conscious. We called up the police."

The lady who had fallen off or jumped first was 51-year-old Moly Pal of Beliaghata.

Eyewitnesses said Moly had rammed against the wall of a house when she fell. But her brother said Moly's family on the train saw her chin hit the locomotive as she fell.

The ordeal for the passengers did not end with the ride. "There was no railway official to help us reach Siliguri. Each of us had to call for vehicles from Siliguri and we returned home in the evening," Nikita said.

A police officer later said three people suffered injuries when they jumped off.

"A woman died and three others got injured. The post-mortem was conducted at NBMCH today and her body was sent to Calcutta with her relatives," the police officer of Kurseong subdivision said.

When asked what snag led to the accident, a railway official said the wheels slipped on the tracks after the brake was applied. He refused to call it a failure of the braking system.

"There was some slipping of wheels on the tracks when the train was travelling downhill. This happens when brakes are applied forcefully in a moving train.... An inquiry committee will investigate the incident," said A.K. Sharma, the divisional manager (Katihar division) of the Northeast Frontier Railway.

Asked whether any action would be taken against the guard who had jumped off instead of operating the emergency brake, Sharma said: "I have got the information and referred it to the inquiry committee. If found guilty, we will definitely take necessary action against the guard".

Moly's family said her husband and four relatives were on the train.

"They were coming back to Siliguri. The train was coming down from the mountains at a very high speed unusual for a toy train," said Sumitava Pal, Moly's brother who stays at Siliguri. "It is not clear whether my sister tried to jump off or she fell down," he said.

Gan today said: "It's like I escaped death."

Source: Telegraph

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Threat to block Darjeeling toy train if NH 55 is not restored, wants Mamata to see NH55

8:49 AM

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Siliguri

The Peoples Welfare Society (PWS), an independent wing of the people who live along the National Highway 55, have threatened to block the toy train if the reconstruction of the road is not done with immediate effect.

 Damaged portion of NH55 at Tindharia

Vice president of PWS Shanti Tamang, said: “We will not allow running the toy train through National Highway 55 until the construction work is started. It has become a world record of closure of any National Highway. Since the last four years and the government is not taking any steps to reconstruct it.”

Residents of Tindharia and Gayabari along NH55 have demanded that Mamata Banerjee travel by the highway when she visits Darjeeling this week to know the difficulties that local people face because of the closure of the road at Tindharia following a landslide in September 2011.

Today, around 500 residents of Tindharia and Gayabari took out a rally under the banner of the People's Welfare Society of Tindharia, an apolitical welfare organisation, and held a meeting to protest against the delay in the restoration of the highway.

"It has been three-and-a-half years since a landslide damaged a huge portion of the highway at Tindharia. However, the state public works department has not started the repair and the people of Tindharia and Gayabari are facing a lot of inconveniences. We have approached the PWD officials a number of times and have received only assurances. The chief minister is visiting north Bengal on a five-day trip starting tomorrow and according to our information, she will also go to Darjeeling," said Binay Chettri, the secretary of the organisation.

"We demand that this time, she travel to Darjeeling via NH55 rather than taking Rohini or Mirik routes to see for herself the difficulties the people are facing because of the closure of the highway at Tindharia," he added.

The NH55, also called Hill Card Road, connects Siliguri with Darjeeling, 78km away. Tindharia is 30km from Siliguri and Gayabari further 4km uphill. Kurseong is 20km uphill from Tindharia.

Around 150 metres of NH55 had been washed away in the landslide at Tindharia in September 2011. The Union ministry of road transport and highways had sanctioned Rs 83 crore in March 2013 for the repair at Tindharia. Although a Calcutta-based construction firm secured the tender for restoration in June that year, the repair is yet to start.

Sources in the PWD said the Union ministry of road transport and highways had terminated the tender awarded to the Calcutta-based firm.

"There were some technical problems regarding the topography and designs of restoration of the highway at Tindharia with the Calcutta-based firm and the Union ministry has terminated its tender. A consultancy agency has been hired to re-survey the site and prepare a new plan for the reconstruction. Tenders will be invited anew as soon as the agency completes its work," said a PWD official.

Chettri said the breach in the highway caused problems during medical emergencies and hampered business and traffic.

"Ever since the landslide at Tindharia, we have been using a shortcut route to reach Siliguri but that road is narrow, steep and is in a dilapidated condition. We face a lot of problems especially during medical emergencies when patients have to be rushed to hospitals in Siliguri. People along the highway earned a livelihood through hotels for tourists and drivers of heavy vehicles. Now the hotel owners have been rendered jobless as few vehicles ply on this route," said Chettri.

He added that the general public of the locality was inconvenienced because heavy vehicles carrying food and construction materials from Siliguri had to come via Rohini, which increases the travel distance by 20km. Daily commuters and college students in Siliguri are also facing difficulties, he said.

"If the reconstruction of the road continues to be delayed, we will start an intensive agitation, including hunger-strikes and blockades on Rohini Road, which is the preferred alternative route of vehicles travelling from Siliguri to Darjeeling," he added.

Source: Telegraph & EOI

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Darjeeling to Siliguri toy train service has missed its date with Christma

8:54 AM

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Tourism

The toy train has missed its date with Christmas. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway on Wednesday deferred the decision to resume train services from Siliguri to Darjeeling, set to begin from Thursday after a hiatus of more than three years. Regular services will resume from January 2015, said a DHR release.

Darjeeling toy train

The Siliguri to Darjeeling service that covers a distance of 87km traversing some of the most beautiful natural sceneries came to an abrupt halt in 2010 after a huge landslide destroyed a major chunk of National Highway 55. Nearly 500m of the highway between Ghayabari and Kurseong at Paglajhora was swept away including the toy train tracks.

Ever since restoration work finally got complete earlier this year, the DHR has been making trial runs. Northeast Frontier Railway general manager RS Vridi on Wednesday said during a trial run, “I have made a detailed inspection of the repair work on the train tracks and am fairly satisfied. However, we want to undertake some more trial runs to ensure the repaired sections are safe before resuming regular services.”

It may be noted here that toy train services between Darjeeling and Kurseong were not affected. The 16km-long Darjeeling-Ghoom steam engine joy ride too has been functioning normally.

When asked about the next probable date for resuming the Siliguri to Darjeeling services, the general manager said, “I had a close look at the lines at Paglajhora, the most vulnerable point, and found them satisfactory. With trial runs underway at present, we expect to start operating the Siliguri to Darjeeling service from January next year.”

The DHR bagged the coveted status of a World Heritage Site at the 23rd session of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee on December 2, 1999. Despite this, the star tourist puller has been facing difficult times due to frequent disruptions in services.

DHR assistant divisional mechanical engineer Basant Raj Diyali said the trial runs are being conducted from Gayabari to Mahanadi while one would be conducted from Siliguri to Darjeeling and back on Thursday morning to check for probable faults along the route. “We are taking trial runs on stretches were the tracks have been repaired. We will conduct more runs before we re-start services,” he said, adding the trial runs that began from December 9 have been successful so far.

Vridi also took a short ride to Darjeeling from Ghoom station, but refused to say anything about future plans for the DHR, saying policy matters are the onus of Parliament.

Source: EOI

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Restore Darjeeling Himalayan Railway writes New Railway Minister to Mamata Banerjee

8:25 PM

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Mamata Banerjee

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway  (DHR), warned by UNESCO that it could lose its status as a world heritage site, has found fresh hope of restoring the link that can help retain that status.

 Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

New Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, according to Darjeeling MP S S Ahluwalia, who adds Gowda has sought her “cooperation” in restoring the disrupted service. The Centre would allocate the funds, while the ministries of railways and road transport (the road too needs repair) would have to work jointly on the project, the MP says quoting from the letter, dated July 23.
Built between 1879 and 1881, the 81-km, high-altitude line ran the famous Darjeeling “toy train” between Darjeeling and New Jalpaiguri and remains the only Indian railway with the UNESCO world heritage tag. It has fallen into disrepair, with landslides in Paglajhora in 2010 having dismantled 8 km of the tracks. The service continues between Mahanadi and Darjeeling at one end, and between New Jalpaiguri and Gayabari at the other.
Last year, UNESCO warned the West Bengal government and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway that the world heritage site tag would be withdrawn unless the service was restored. Subsequently, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was allocated Rs 88 crore for restoration but the link between Mahanadi and Gayabari remains suspended. The road between those two points, too, has been snapped.
Ahluwalia then took it up again. “I wrote to the railway minister explaining the situation. He has responded and also written to Mamata Banerjee to cooperate in the restoration, and to the road transport ministry for support in rebuilding the road between Mahanadi and Gayabari,” said Ahluwalia.
DHR sources said restoration work had started after the warning but was stopped due to bad weather and labour problems in the area. North Bengal Development Minister Gautam Deb said, “We requested the central government to start restoration and allocate funds. The UNESCO team’s report said it was a highly seismic zone and the track could not be restored unless the road is rebuilt first. But the Centre did not make any effort.”
Former minister of state for railways Adhir Chowdhury blamed the state government: “After Railways allotted Rs 88 crore, the Bengal government failed to use the funds.”
According to Narendra Mohan, area manager of DHR, a pair of “jungle safari” trains runs between NJP and Gayabari while four pairs of trains run between Mahanadi and Darjeeling almost regularly. Chartered trains run on the operational track on request.

Source: indianexpress

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Darjeeling Himalayan Railway to run toy train called Red Panda

2:16 PM

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Tourism

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) will run a steam engine-driven train, toy train, between Kurseong and Darjeeling from the end of the month and the special train has been named after the red panda.

DHR to run toy train called Red Panda

The endangered animal was recently chosen by the Election Commission as a mascot for creating awareness about free and fair election in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.

Sugato Lahiri, the chief public relations officer of Northeast Frontier Railway under which the DHR operates, today said the toy train would run on Saturday and Sundays.

“We had been thinking about starting a special train between Kurseong and Darjeeling since last year. The name Red Panda was also finalised at that time but some formalities had to be completed. Recently, we got the sanction to start the train between Kurseong and Darjeeling and the service would start by the end of the month. The train would run on Saturday and Sunday every week,” Lahiri told The Telegraph from NFR headquarters in Maligaon.

Kurseong is 38km from Darjeeling.

The special train would be driven by steam engines and have two first-class non-AC coaches.

Earlier, toy trains with steam engines ran between Kurseong and Darjeeling but for the past three-four years, the steam engines have been replaced by diesel ones.

Now, steam engines operate only on the Ghoom-Darjeeling route. Ghoom is 68km from here.

Two daily trains run on the Kurseong-Darjeeling stretch. The trains are diesel-driven and have one first class and one second class coach, both non-AC.

The DHR authorities are hopeful that the Red Panda train will generate favourable response among tourists for whom the Unesco World Heritage Railway is a major attraction.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the red panda as an endangered species.

“Darjeeling is known for its rich flora and fauna and scenic beauty. Darjeeling hills are famous for being the sanctuary of the Red Panda, which is an endangered species. Tourists come from across the country and abroad to see the animal. Darjeeling is also popular for the DHR. We thought combining the two popular items of the hills would be an attractive package for tourists. To ride in the luxury of first-class coaches drawn by a steam engine would be a rewarding experience for steam engine enthusiasts,” Lahiri said.

Source: Telegraph

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Darjeeling Himalayan Railway resumed Kurseong to Mahanadi toy train service

10:16 AM

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Siliguri

Darjeeling -Siliguri, March 25: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) today resumed the toy train service between Kurseong and Mahanadi, a stretch of 13km, following the repair of tracks at the landslide-hit Tindharia.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway resumed Kurseong to Mahanadi  toy train service

“We have extended the daily toy train service up to Mahanadi. From now on, the Himalaya-On-Wheels that reaches Kurseong from Darjeeling around 1.20pm, will travel 13km further till Mahanadi and return. This is a big achievement for the DHR because the track between Mahanadi and Kurseong had been lying unused for nearly four years now. Now only 6km of damaged tracks at Paglajhora remain to be repaired,” said D.S. Kunwar, the additional divisional railway manager of Katihar division, under which DHR functions.

The main aim of extending the service up to Mahanadi is to make operational a major portion of the 78km hill railway track that had been damaged by landslides along NH55 at Paglajhora and Tindharia, around 35km and 30km from here respectively.

Source:Telegraph

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Darjeeling toy train service from NJP to Ghayabari resumed

11:15 AM

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Live News

Darjeeling : After a gap of around four years, the Darjeeling toy train service from NJP to Ghayabari was finally restarted yesterday, but the direct journey of the toy train from NJP to Darjeeling is yet to be restored.

Steam engine toy train en-route to Ghayabari on Sunday.

Notably, since June, 2010, there has been no direct toy train services between NJP to Darjeeling, as its routes and tracks are damaged at different places in Kurseong region, mainly at 14th Mile Ghayabari and below the Tindharia Locomotive workshop due to frequent landslides. On June 14, 2010 a major portion of NH-55 along with adjacent railway tracks were destroyed at 14 Mile due to landslides. Later, on September 28, 2011, a major portion of railway tracks were destroyed by a landslide below the Tindharia Railway Workshop.

But recently, the affected site near the Tindharia Railway Workshop was reconstructed with new railway tracks.  Following which the route was opened on Sunday, where a group of foreign tourists enjoyed the ride of a steam engine toy train from NJP to Ghayabari.

The reconstruction works of the routes between Ghayabari station to Mahanadi station and further upwards from Mahanadi station to Kurseong station are yet to be completed.

When asked, a senior Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) official said the efforts are on by the railway department for the early resumption of the direct train services, but until and unless the landslides affected NH 55 areas is not constructed completely, it is difficult to resume the services till Darjeeling currently.

Source:EOI

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National Rail Museum gets Darjeeling toy trains vintage engine

12:13 AM

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Darjeeling toy train

Celebrating its 37 years of existence, the National Rail Museum launched the service of a vintage locomotive for the toy train at the museum complex at Chanakyapuri here over the weekend. The engine, manufactured in England, was first used by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway for toy trains in 1881. It was rebuilt at a workshop in Darjeeling in 1917 and finally withdrawn from service in 1957.

Rail Museum toy train gets vintage engine

The coach attached with the train was also built at Darjeeling at a cost of Rs. 1,907 in 1902. It has a seating capacity of 16. The 4.360-metre-long coach was withdrawn in 1968, after being in service for about 66 years.

Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar dedicated the vintage engine hitched with eight coaches to the museum.

Mr. Kumar later took a joy ride with children and their parents. Talking to mediapersons he said the museum has now been put on the Delhi Tourist map. This will allow tourists to see and understand the history of the Indian Railways.

The museum has an annual footfall of 3.5 lakh.

The addition of Ho-Ho bus service is likely to increase its popularity.y.

Source:thehindu.

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