CR to spend Rs 5 cr on upgrade works to ensure Matheran toy train operates during monsoon

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The Central Railway has a long-term plan to keep the Matheran Light Railway operational during the monsoon and has allocated a sum of Rs 5 crore for the project even as work has begun to resume services post-monsoon by October.

Passenger services between Neral and Aman Lodge from June to 15th October during the monsoon every year. Shuttle services between Matheran and Aman Lodge will continue to run as per the current schedule in force. Aman Lodge is the station near Dasturi Point from where road vehicles are available.

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With an average of 40,000 passengers using the train every month, it has been able to ferry about 3.34 lakh passengers in the last six months while it was on.

CR is working on a project to upgrade the narrow gauge line so that it works during the monsoon too. The plan involves strengthening the drains and other assets.

"It is a long-term plan. Right now, the work has primarily begun in view of the restarting the train post monsoon," Central Railway chief public relations officer Dr Swapnil Nila said.

"Matheran is the nearest and the most popular tourist destination for the citizens of Mumbai. Central Railway with its shuttle services for passengers between Neral/Aman Lodge and Matheran has been instrumental in popularizing this place as a major tourist destination. In addition to providing a comfortable journey to tourists, these services help in cheap and quick transportation of materials also," a CR spokesperson said.

Stated over a century ago in 1907, the latest figures indicate the priority role of railways in providing safe and comfortable travel to its passengers coming to this tourist destination even now.

Central Railway has put in herculean efforts to restore the Neral-Matheran track which was washed out due to heavy downpours in 2019. The entire 21km stretch of narrow-gauge line was finally ready and services on the line were resumed last year on 22 October 2022. Before that, only shuttle services between a small 2-km stretch of Aman Lodge and Matheran were in service carrying passengers and parcels.

The Neral-Matheran line was built over a century ago in 1907 as a family enterprise of the Peerbhoys and is now on the UNESCO tentative list for Mountain Railways of India.