Mumbai: The famous Matheran Toy Train is all set for an upgradation. The Central Railway that runs this small but attractive 21 km train network has designed completely new kind of locomotives for the hilly route which are more comfortable and safer for the hilly tracks.
Besides, Central Railway has planned to introduce six additional mordernised coaches in different and attractive colour combinations for the Toy Train. This will enable Railways ferry extra passengers.
“The Neral-Matheran Toy Train has been awarded the heritage status. Central Railway has decided to resume it’s operations again after the monsoons. This time there will be six coaches in the Toy Train including with one AC. Despite being a hill station, at times it gets hot here. Moreover, there were demands for AC coaches. Our GM DK Sharma and Minister Piyushji (Goel) have show keen interest in the Toy Train,” said K.P. Somkumar, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer, CR.
“We will also be having a different colour code on the train which will give a feel of the hilly jungle area. Apart from just giving boost to tourism, we have our social responsibility to make transportation convenient for the locals. We will increase the number of coaches as the demand increases in future,” he added.
Matheran is a small hill station in Raigad district near Mumbai. This is the nearest hill station from Mumbai and the Toy Train and it’s rail route is interesting. This is a narrow gauge train which runs on tracks that are of 2 feet width.
Another specific thing about this Toy Train route between Neral where the journey begins to Matheran , it’s last station, is that it takes more than 280 turns during its 21 km journey. It was built in 1907 by Adamjee Peerbhoy and has completed more than 110 years in service of this unique hill station and one of the favourite tourist destinations near Mumbai.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]