Maharashtra: Central Railway working on plan to start suburban trains between Neral and Matheran

You may soon be able to take a local to Matheran from Neral. Central Railway (CR) is speaking with manufacturers to build engineless multiple-unit trains, just like our regular locals, for trips between Neral and Matheran, officials told mid-day.

"Central Railway is in dialogue with the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) for a new design Diesel-Electric powered Multiple Unit (DEMU) type self-propelled train for the narrow-gauge section. Planning is also underway about booking a saloon on this section. Saloon cars are available for chartered bookings for tourists. Unlike regular coaches, they are luxury coaches with additional amenities to experience the grandeur of travelling. The Matheran Light Railway has a saloon car in the form of a vistadome coach - which has a transparent roof - attached to two services, one up and one down.

Regular services on the Neral-Matheran line resumed on October 22, after almost three years

CR is also planning to get a new design of coaches with modified Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) trolley and draft gear arrangements for better rides," a CR spokesperson said.

Explaining the concept, an official said that a DEMU train would be a regular self-propelled, engineless train like the suburban trains of Mumbai or similar to those that run between Diva-Vasai-Panvel, but a smaller version of the one in a narrow gauge. The Matheran line has a similar gauge of two feet as that of the Darjeeling line.

Also Read: Maharashtra: Neral-Matheran mini train to resume operations from Oct 22

Shut since 2019, line fixed

Regular services on the line, which was shut in 2019, resumed on October 22, after damages on the Neral-Matheran section
were fixed.

"The daunting task of moving the required sleepers and other material for strengthening the track as accomplished by teams that worked overnight and in shifts. They strengthened the embankment by providing a retaining wall, gabion protection and grouting stone pitching beneath the track, providing an anti-crash barrier along the track, providing side drains so as to divert rainwater and providing additional box bridges and pipe bridges," a spokesperson said.

"The existing sleepers that were of the steel type were replaced by concrete ones. Thirty new bridges have been constructed besides strengthening of existing bridges and 2-km of side drain have been constructed, which will now help in channelising the flow of rainwater instead of allowing it to flow over the track. Further, at vulnerable locations of deep valleys 3,000 cubic metres of gabion wall and 90 meters of retaining wall were constructed; 2.2 km of anti-crash barrier has been constructed at vulnerable locations. Provision of guard rails for 690 metres at deep valley locations have been completed," he added.

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