Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Suffers Rs 1 Cr Loss

The Eastern Himalayan Travel and Tour Operators Association has urged Darjeeling Himalayan Railway to normalise the services as soon as possible so that more tourists can visit the Hills, which in turn will help to augment revenue.

Darjeeling: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) authority is facing a loss of Rs 1 crore with a dip in both revenue and passengers, North East Frontier Railway (NEFR) sources said.

DHR's income from January to June 2023 was Rs 13.46 crore and nearly 1,11,541 passengers availed the services. But in the current year, the income has decreased to Rs 12.66 crore and the number of passengers were reduced by more than 6,600.

In such a situation, the tourism companies have demanded that the passenger services be normalised quickly. The railway authorities have assured to speed up the normalisation of the services by giving importance to the demands of the traders.

Debashish Moitra, Chief Advisor of Eastern Himalayan Travel and Tour Operators Association, said, "DHR's income in the first six months is at least Rs 80 lakh lesser than last year. One of the reasons is disruption of services. Mountain landslides due to continuous rains have hit tourism sector and we had fewer visitors. We want the railway authorities to normalize the services soon."

Sabyasachi Dey, Chief Public Relations Officer, North East Frontier Railway, said, "This year's revenue is less than last year because there were Lok Sabha elections. Besides, the toy train track has been damaged at some places due to recent collapses. Work is underway to restore the services soon."

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a UNESCO Heritage Site and the main attraction of hill tourism. Toy train service was started in the hills in 1881. The railway authorities have taken several initiatives to promote it.

Apart from Joyride and Ghum Museum, the Railway authority organises Ghum Festival every year. At the beginning of the year, the toy train service from New Jalpaiguri to Tindharia and Darjeeling in Karshiang had to be stopped due to collapse at several places in Kurseong's Mahanadi and Tindharia. This also caused a lot of damage to the railway authorities.

However, the railway officials have announced several new initiatives to overcome the loss this year. The aim is to upgrade the coach restaurant with toy train rooms, the Ghum Museum and build several new bridges to prevent landslides and collapses.

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