Ensure Matheran toy train starts running soon, Railway minister Prabhu tells Central Railway

Ensure Matheran toy train starts running soon, Railway minister Prabhu tells Central Railway

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu promised the residents of Matheran on Friday that the Railways will not give up on the popular hill railway service and instructed the Central Railway (CR) to ensure that the mini train begins chugging soon. The hill station's economy depends mainly on tourism.

A delegation of elected representatives, including MLA Prashant Thakur from Panvel, president of Matheran Municipal Council (MMC) Gautam Gaikwad, MMC leader of Opposition Manoj Khedkar and others, met Prabhu on Friday evening at Rail Bhavan in New Delhi, requesting him to ensure that the train service was not shut down completely.

"He gave us a patient hearing. We told him how the entire tourism industry was severely hit this summer and urged him to help save Matheran. The mini train is the soul of this small hill station. He promptly assured us that services will be restored," said Khedkar, who further informed that Prabhu then immediately spoke to the railway officials and asked them to take up the work on a priority basis.

Meanwhile, CR officials said that as per the minister's directions, the railway board officials called the top CR officials and asked them to initiate the work at the earliest. Sources in the CR said the first work to be taken up will be on the Aman lodge-Matheran stretch and then on the Neral-Aman Lodge stretch.

"CR is preparing three locomotives and 10 coaches with air brakes for the purpose. It is also trying to make 650-metre concrete retaining walls to provide stability to the unstable ghat, so as to prevent mishaps," said CR officials, adding that the option of providing rail piling on the dangerous stretch was also being explored.

CR had suspended all mini train services post after two derailments in a month. This led to a lot of inconvenience to tourists, as horse cart owners and hand-rickshaw pullers started overcharging. In fact, elected representatives and the hotel owners cited suspension of train service as the reason behind the sharp decline in the number of tourists this summer, the peak season for tourism.

Source:dna