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After 118 years, three new toy trains on Kalka-Shimla route
As many as 30 new-generation LHB coaches will be manufactured for the toy trains that use 765-mm narrow gauge.
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The Indian Railways is set to deploy three new toy trains on the Kalka-Shimla route for the first time since the service became operational 118 years ago, railways officials familiar with the development said, adding the trains will start running by the end of the year.
“Coaches of the Kalka-Shimla toy trains are being made in the Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala. They will be made operational by December,” a railways official confirmed.
The new toy trains will operate on the 96.6-km narrow-gauge tracks, built by the British in 1903. German manufacturer Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB)-designed coaches, which will be used on the Kalka-Shimla route, are “lighter in weight, have increased codal life, better safety, higher carrying capacity and speed potential as compared to the old Integral Coach Factory (ICF) model coaches,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
As many as 30 new-generation LHB coaches will be manufactured for the toy trains that use 765-mm narrow gauge, the official added.
Narrow gauge tracks have less than the standard 1,435 mm width.
“The new coaches will have 180 degrees rotatable chair seats in AC coaches and flip type seating arrangement in GS coaches,” another railways official said, who also requested anonymity. “Besides, they will be equipped with CCTVs, passenger announcement system, passenger information system and sink-in LED destination board.”
A Kapurthala-based railways official said, “The three new trains in Kalka-Shimla will have two emergency alarm push buttons per coach, flexible gangway, onboard WiFi for infotainment with compact modem, ergonomically designed cushioned seats besides others.”
The new trains will allow modification in seating patterns, in case of private or group bookings. “In the new coaches, seats will be placed in a manner that their arrangements in the coach can be changed as per requirement of passengers,” the official added.
The new trains will have coaches of wider panoramic view, windows with visible light transmission of glazing (VLT) controllable curved glass in the roof, body side bi-foldable doors, sound and vibration damp floating floor, aesthetically textured interior fiberglass reinforced panels and LED-based linear lightings, under slung mounted electrical smart switch board cabinet for AC and general seating (GS) coaches.
“Railways began manufacturing Vistadome coaches from 2020-21. These coaches are being made on the LHB platform. Seven such LHB vistadome coaches were manufactured by ICF Chennai in 2020 and 15 were manufactured in 2021,” another official said.
Currently 15 such narrow gauge Vistadome coaches operate on this route, main features of which include wider windows, window roller blinds, honeycomb blinds for roof glass, among others.
Apart from Kalka-Shimla, India operates toy trains as Darjeeling Himalayan railway, Nilgiri Mountain railway (Tamil Nadu), Matheran Hill railway and Kangra Valley railway (Himachal Pradesh).
Officials said that railway operates few vistadome coaches on routes like Ahmedabad-Kevadia, Mumbai-Madgaon, Mumbai-Pune, Vishakhapatnam-Araku-Kirandul, Yeshwantpur-Karwar (via Mangaluru) and Mumbai (Dadar)-Madgaon. “In order to attract more tourists on these routes, we will be adding on the vistadome coaches on these broad-gauge trains too,” the official added.
