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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