Anti-crash barrier to be put up along vulnerable route of Matheran toy train

In a move to increase safety of passengers travelling by popular toy train between Neral and Matheran, anti-crash barriers will be installed on the route

In a move to increase safety of passengers travelling by popular toy train between Neral and Matheran, anti-crash barriers will be installed on the route.

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The anti-crash barriers will be installed on the 1.5-km railway track stretch of the 21-km route between Neral and Matheran railway stations. The 1.5-km stretch where the barriers will be installed include the track stretch with open valley near it. Work on the installation of the same will begin post monsoon.

In addition, construction of retaining wall and strengthening of the entire railway track between Neral and Matheran stations will also be undertaken.

“Work on strengthening the tracks is presently going on. The anti-crash barriers will be introduced as safety barriers for the toy train,” said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railway.

The zonal railway recently floated a tender for the provision of anti-crash barriers and gabion wall for strengthening of track embankment and other track protection work in critical locations in the railway section.

Presently, only shuttle services between Aman Lodge and Matheran railway stations are operational due to the damage caused by Cyclone Nisarga in 2020. Toy train tracks and retaining walls were washed away due to heavy rainfall caused by the severe cyclonic storm in Matheran.

Earlier, after a series of derailments during operations on the Neral-Matheran toy train route, Central Railway had introduced a new inter-railway communications system. The optical fibre communication system was introduced on the entire 21-km stretch and placed parallel to the tracks in order to improve communication between motorman, guard of the toy train and railway station masters.