Toy train trips truncated

TT, Siliguri, Jan. 6: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has decided to run toy trains between NJP and Darjeeling on alternate days instead of everyday because of shortage of diesel engines.

According to DHR officials, there are four diesel locomotives in the hill railway that run 22 trips in different sections daily.

But a problem has arisen because one of the four engines developed a technical snag towards the end of December last year and direct services had to be suspended for some days.

"There are only four diesel locomotives in the heritage railway that are used for conducting 22 trips in different sections everyday. Under normal circumstances, one of the four engines is kept on standby and the remaining three are pressed into service. However, since the end of December, one of the engines has developed a technical snag and had to be sent for repairs. So, there are only three engines left with us now. However, as it is imperative that we keep one of them on standby, only two engines are available with us to run the trips," a DHR official said.

"We conveyed the matter to higher officials at Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) at Maligaon in Assam. Considering the current situation, they directed us on January 4 that direct services between NJP and Darjeeling should run on alternate days instead of on a daily basis until further notice. The change in the timetable has been implemented since Monday. The direct services had to be suspended for some days because of the engine shortage. Running the direct services on alternate days was a viable solution instead of suspending them altogether," he added.

DHR authorities have fixed the days of run for the NJP-Darjeeling service on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the days of run for Darjeeling-NJP service on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.