Meet to keep toy train on Unesco track

TT BUREAU, 12 Sep 2019, Siliguri: Rail officials will hold a two-day brainstorming session in Darjeeling to draw up plans for conservation and protection of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway so that it continues to carry the world heritage tag conferred by Unesco 20 years ago.

In recent times, this is the first major exercise on the mountain railway that has been taken up by the railways, particularly after World Heritage Committee of Unesco that had met at a session in Baku of Azerbaijan earlier this year, had expressed concern about the conservation status of DHR.

"The general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway will reach here on Friday morning and will leave for Darjeeling to attend a meeting with representatives of Unesco. There is a chance that some more senior railway officials would also be there, along with those working on DHR, the stakeholders of tourism industry, officials of state PWD and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration," said a source in NFR.

Railway sources also said that the Comprehensive Conservation & Management Plan (CCMP) for the heritage rail service of hills. The Unesco is preparing it on the basis of an agreement with the railways.

"Once ready, we will follow the CCMP to ensure that the heritage of DHR is conserved and managed in a proper manner. We have already taken the initiative to clear encroachments from both sides of the track, particularly in the plains (between NJP and Sukna)," an official said.

Some other issues which are likely to be discussed at the meet include maintenance of the century old Tindharia workshop, introduction of new services and improvement of on-board facilities.

"We are putting impetus on DHR also because on last The Darjeeling toy train fiscal, one lakh passengers had travelled in the toy train. This has happened for the first time in the history of the service. Further, on December this year, there will be celebrations for the 20th anniversary of conferment of world heritage status by Unesco," the official added.

During the visit, Sanjive Roy, the general manager and some other officials are also likely to take a stock of the situation of the Sevoke-Rangpo rail project. The project was initiated by former railway minister Mamata Banerjee back in 2009, and was taken up to bring the Himalayan state of Sikkim in the railway map of India.

From Sevoke station ­ that is located around 20 kilometres from here and comes along the Dooars rail track ­ a new track will connect to Rangpo, the bordering town of Sikkim, covering a stretch of 52 kilometres. Five new stations, all in the hills, have been planned along the route.

"Work is in progress along the route but the project has got delayed due to a number of reasons. It was supposed to end by 2015 but 10 years have passed and the cost has also escalated," said a source.

Initially, the project cost was around Rs 1,340 crores but due to delay, it has surmounted to around Rs 5,000 crores, said sources..