DHR birth anniversary without steam

The 127th birth anniversary of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, celebrated today, had everything except steam, its biggest attraction and mark of identity.

Amid a lot of fanfare and gaiety, the general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Ashutosh Swami, flagged off the Himalayan Princess from Siliguri Junction this morning.

The diesel-driven train is the latest introduction in the services of the Unesco World Heritage Site. “It will be a pleasure-cum-travel train plying daily between New Jalpaiguri and Kurseong,” said R.K. Rao, a member (mechanical) of the railway board and the chief guest at today’s programme.

The Himalayan Princess will have new coaches specially designed to give tourists the maximum possible view of the landscape, said Rajesh Agarwal, executive director (heritage), ministry of railways. The five new coaches brought here for this have large sliding windows with no iron bars obstructing the view. The seats, too, are more spacious and music is played through audio ports in each compartment.

However, going without steam on the big day was “just not done”, said toy train lovers.

“There should have been no compromise on steam on such a special day,” said Raj Basu, secretary of the DHR India Support Group. “The railways should have got a steam engine to haul the new train, like the ones on the Kurseong-Darjeeling stretch.”

Rao defended the railway’s decision. “We have few steam locomotives. We want to keep them in good shape for special occasions,” he said.

Not everyone was ready to buy the argument. “What can be more special than the 126th anniversary?” asked a steam enthusiast.

On its maiden run today, the flower-bedecked Himalayan Princess chugged up to Rongton, about 20 km from here. It started to rain soon after the train crossed Sukna and entered the forest stretch, with Indrayut Bhattacharya, a Class-V boy, enthralling those on board with his enchanting violin play.

Later in the day, Rao inaugurated a toy train museum at Elysia Building near Doomarm Bustee, reports our Kurseong correspondent. The museum will be open seven days a week and the entry fee will be Rs 20 per person.

However, the chief public relations officer of the NFR, T. Rabha, created a controversy today when he said the headquarters of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will not be shifting to Elysia Building but will remain at its current location at Katihar.

“Only the DHR director’s office will shift there,” Rabha said.

Source: The Telegraph