The loco of a toy train parked for repair in Kurseong. File picture

Siliguri, Nov. 21: Coaches and engines of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are being repaired at the ill-equipped small sheds at Kurseong and Siliguri Junction as the rail link to the main loco workshop at Tindharia has been cut off since June last year after a landslide near Paglajhora.

“For the past 16 months, we have no alternative but to carry out repair at the Kurseong loco shed. We send our personnel with tools to carry out the work. Even trains from Darjeeling are brought down to Kurseong because the shed in Darjeeling is smaller,” an official at Tindharia said.

While only one coach can be repaired in Kurseong at a time, around three to four locos can be repaired at the workshop in Tindharia.

The rail line to Tindharia that runs parallel to NH55 was damaged when a 500-metre stretch of the road collapsed after a landslide at 14th Mile near Paglajhora on June 16 last year. Toy train service between Siliguri and Kurseong have remained suspended since.

Currently, the DHR fleet comprises 13 steam locos, four diesel locos and 53 coaches.

Coaches are also being repaired at Siliguri Junction as a landslide at Tindharia, 30km from here, on September 28 had damaged the rail link between Siliguri and Tindharia.

Although DHR officials admitted that was inconvenient to carry out repairs in the smaller loco sheds, they added that the work of laying the tracks to Tindharia could begin only when NH55 was restored.

“For major overhaul, the locos and coaches need to be dismantled, overturned and lifted. Even if people from the workshop go to repair, they cannot dismantle the coaches in the small space nor can they lift or overturn the machines with the limited tools. The trains have been surviving on minor repairs. But this is a UNESCO heritage railway whose engines and coaches are more than 100 years old. They should be maintained properly,” said an official of the workshop at Tindharia.

He added that earlier, coaches had been taken to Tindharia at regular intervals. “Recently, we fixed the wheels of an engine and it was quite a bulky task to dismantle the machine, lift it and repair it at the Kurseong loco shed. Had it been done at the workshop, we had all the tools to do the work smoothly and complete it on time,” R.P. Singh, the assistant divisional mechanical engineer at Tindharia, said.

According to the PWD officials, the restoration of NH55 will take time. “Work is being carried out at 14th Mile in phases and it would take some time before the road is completely restored. As for Tindharia, we will begin work as soon as a detailed project report on the plan of work is prepared,” said Nirmal Mondal, the executive engineer, NH (division IX) of PWD.