Coal crisis cripples toy train joy ride

The special joy rides today have been canceled by the officials due to crisis of coal. Counters are closed and a notice announce the cancellation of the ride. There is no official explanation about this. Shortage of coal forced the DHR to call off the rides. It is the second time in six months that the toy train faced this problem. Due to flood in Asansol in October last year the coal supplies had been hit.

T. Bhattacherjee, the public relations officer of the Northest Frontier Railway stationed in New Jalpaiguri said, `Due to miscommunication today`s rides was cancelled`. He added, `Though there is a scarcity of coal in Siliguri but we had enough to keep the joy rides going but we had not been informed about the shortage. We will replenish the stock tomorrow`. The steam engine consumes 600 kg. of coal on each ride. `We have only 600 kg. of coal in our godown and since there are more reservations tomorrow and we will use it tomorrow,` an official said. For Ashis Jain however it remains a lost chance. The tourist from Indore who will head for Gangtok tomorrow, had stopped over at Darjeeling only to take the ride. In his word `I was looking forward to this ride. I don’t know if I will ever have the opportunity again`. The coal is transported here in Siliguri from Asansol and supplies of coal are sent to Darjeeling on the basis of requirements but coal supply from Siliguri had not arrived in the past few days. Thus we have been rationing coal by running only one for the past few days though there are two joy rides every day, an official said. The 10 DN train plies between Darjeeling and Kurseong has remained suspended for a few days. The DHR receives 800 tones of coal per year but according to the authorities it is not sufficient. Since some engines are century old and they consume 2,500 kg. of coal for a to-and-fro ride between Darjeeling and Kurseong. DHR has 12 steam engine and 2 diesel engines. The coal fired locomotives are only used when the diesel engines breakdown. The DHR are accused by the tourism industry of neglecting the heritage on wheels. DHR runs up an annual loss of 7 crore. It is the tourist season when the DHR can rake up their revenue but the officials call off the rides because of coal crisis. It will hamper the economy of DHR and the tourism industry.

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