Maharashtra: This wild ride uphill continues to be a crowd favourite in Matheran

Started over a century ago Matheran Hill Railway running on a narrow gauge line is a major attraction with tourists. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The narrow gauge Matheran Hill Railway continues to remain a hit with tourists flocking the popular hill station near Mumbai. With an average 40,000 passengers using the train in a month, it has been able to ferry about 3.34 lakh passengers in the last six months.

"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. This has resulted in fetching revenue of Rs 2.36 crore from April to November 2023," a Central Railway spokesperson said.

Started over a century ago in 1907, the railways are keen 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 the downpour in 2019. The entire 21 km stretch of narrow-gauge line was finally ready and services on the line were resumed last year on 22 October, 2022. Prior to that, only shuttle services between a small 2-km stretch of Aman Lodge and Matheran were in service carrying passengers and parcels. Neral-Matheran line was built over a century ago in 1907 as a family enterprise of the Peerbhoys and is now in the UNESCO tentative list for Mountain Railways of India.

1907
Year the line was built

3.34 lakh
Passengers in last six months

40,000
Average No. of passengers in a month