Darjeeling’s ‘Heritage Locomotive’ all set to ply into glory yet again!

Darjeeling/Guwahati, May 19: From Rajesh Khanna wooing Sharmila Tagore with Mere sapnon ki rani in the 1967 film Aradhana to Parineeta, an entire song, Kasto mazza he relaima, featuring Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan, all has been conceptualised on the heritage locomotive. Cut to 2012, there is Ranbir Kapoor chasing the chugging steam engine on a cycle to catch a glimpse of Ileana D'Cruz in Barfi!

In order to keep alive the magic, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), which controls the centuries-old Darjeeling Himalayan Railway inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited for redeveloping, manufacture and supply of spares for the narrow-gauge steam locomotives.

"We have inked the MoU for five years, which could be extended if needed with consent of both parties. Besides redeveloping the locomotives, HECL will also redevelop the steam boilers that will help the locomotives keep running," NFR general manager Chahatey Ram said here today.

The DHR has 13 steam locomotives, of which six are still working. "Most of these locomotives are more than a century-old and the manufacturers have either shut shop or switched to making something else 60-65 years ago," he said.

The oldest among the functioning locomotives, also called Iron Sherpas, was built in 1899 by Glasgow-based Stauffer, Son and Company, while the youngest one was built at the Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu)-based Golden Rock Railway Workshop in 2003.

The DHR, which started operations in 1881, was primarily built for freight traffic but was turned into passenger railway attracting tourists from across the country and the world. The 78km stretch of DHR from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling in Bengal, which was later reduced to Siliguri to Darjeeling, earned the Unesco World Heritage Site tag in 1999.

"Only the Darjeeling-Kurseong route and the daily tourist route from Darjeeling to Ghoom (India's highest railway station) is covered by steam locomotives, while the rest are run by narrow gauge diesel engines thrice every week from Siliguri to Darjeeling," an NFR source said.

The source said the signing of the pact has come at a time when the DHR is facing the prospect of losing its World Heritage Site tag for the use of diesel locomotives. "Indian Railways had signed a fund-in-trust agreement in January worth $5,33,332 with Unesco to develop a comprehensive conservation management plan and a framework for an effective management system. With the redevelopment of the steam locomotives, the tag can be saved," the source said.

DHR, however, has not made a profit in more than six decades but revenue generation is showing encouraging signs. A DHR official said: "The annual expenses are around Rs 15 crore. While revenue collection for 2013-14 was Rs 1.85 crore, the earnings was Rs 5.45 crore in 2015-16."

HECL chairman-cum-managing director Avijit Ghosh said the work will be done by setting time-frames. "We have conducted studies of the 41 spare parts in the Tindharia workshop and have recovered drawings of 13 parts. We will send teams to develop the drawings for the rest of the parts and start the work within six months," he said.

Source: The Telegraph