The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) which had been running a truncated toy train service for the last three years may soon resume its normal service from Siliguri to Darjeeling, a senior railway official said.
Divisional railway manager (DRM), Katihar division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), A.K. Sharma, expressed hope that the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a Unesco world Heritage site would resume its normal toy train services from November.
A landslide at Paglajhora on June 14, 2010 had brought to a halt the train services between Siliguri and Kurseong.
Although the trains used to run from Siliguri to Gayabari, another landslide on the highway at Tindharia in September 2011 had shortened the service till Rongtong only.
However, the toy trains have been running between Kurseong and Darjeeling uninterrupted.
The NH-55 and the toy train tracks, which run parallel to each other, had suffered major damage during the two landslides.
“The NH-division of the state PWD is working to restore the road at Paglajhora. They have set the deadline of this month. We will need at least another 15 days to lay down the tracks. So far the railway department has laid 600 metres of tracks and 200 metres more remain to be laid. We hope that the toy train service will resume between Siliguri and Darjeeling by November,” said Mr Sharma at the NJP railway station.
The DHR was declared a world heritage site by Unesco in 1999.