The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) introduced three short-distance toy train services to attract more tourists to the heritage mountain railway over the past 48 hours and will launch two more trips from Sunday, keeping in mind the rise in the footfall of visitors during the upcoming festive season.
“Today (On Saturday), we introduced a joy ride between Darjeeling and Ghum stations. The toy train will be hauled by a steam loco. Another short-distance trip, named ‘Sunset Special Joy Ride’, was also launched today. It will be a return trip between Kurseong and Mahanadi,” DHR director Rishav Choudhary said.
The century-old Himalayan railway is a world heritage site recognised by UNESCO. Hundreds of tourists enjoy rides on the mountain railway every day.
In July, The Telegraph had reported that the DHR was planning to introduce at least three new short-distance services during the festive season so that more passengers could enjoy toy train rides.
The trips were planned for those who could not afford to spend an entire day for the 80km-long journey between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling.
According to Choudhary, the steam special ride will leave Darjeeling at 9.30am for Ghum. The sunset special service will leave Kurseong at 3.30pm.
“Yesterday(on Friday), we introduced a new special service between Siliguri and Rongtong. This service will operate on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The train will be halted at Rongtong for four hours to enable visitors to explore the surrounding areas,” said the director.
“We spoke to the authorities of a nearby tea estate to provide tourists with an opportunity to experience the plucking of tea leaves, a tea factory tour and a tea testing session,” he added.
On Sunday, two more services will be launched from Kurseong. One is a “Sunrise Special” between Kurseong and Mahanadi that will run in the morning, while the other is a service between Kurseong and Darjeeling, sources said.
The tourism industry welcomed the new DHR rides. “During tourism season every year, there is a steady demand for toy train tickets. With these new services, more people can enjoy toy train rides. They will also have newer options like enjoying a ride with a sunrise or a sunset or a ride through forests and tea estates in the foothills,” said Samrat Sanyal, the general secretary of the Himalayan Hospitality and Tourism Development Network.