Darjeeling tourism crippled by Water tankers’ strike

DARJEELING, October 5: Giving no respite to a bandh hit tourism industry in Darjeeling, a strike called by drivers of water tankers, the elixir of the hill station, has brought an excellent tourism season here down to its knees.
The strike which began from yesterday had a rippling effect not only on the tourism stakeholders but also the common people here in the hill town. The agitating drivers are demanding that the tankers be allowed to enter the town and distribute water as per their convenience.
Talks at various levels from today morning have failed to mitigate the issue.
The resultant water scarcity have forced the hotels here to started rejecting new tourists while forcing the guests to bring their Darjeeling sojourn to an abrupt end from today.
“Water had stopped coming from yesterday and we are out of water so we are compelled to ask our guests to check out”, said a hotel owner. We are also unable to take in new guests, he added.
Almost all the hotels here depend on water tankers for their daily water supply of 15000 to 18000 litres.
After a tumultuous nine months, a good season had beckoned for the tourism industry in Darjeeling this puja break with arrival of domestic and foreign tourists in good numbers leading to packed hotels.
However, the problem posed by agitating water tanker drivers has spoiled a good ending for the tourism industry of Darjeeling. Locals are also facing water supply problems in the town area which already notorious for its meager water supply sources.
Meanwhile, the drivers are adamant that they be allowed to ply their tankers in the bazaar area as per the old timetable – till 8 am in the morning, between 11 am to 3 pm and after 6 pm in the evening.
The Darjeeling traffic police had tweaked the existing time table to allow the tankers to enter the bazaar area only between 1 pm to 4 pm in the afternoon which led to the strike call.
An offer of 12 noon to 4 pm timetable by the police to the drivers was not accepted leading to the impasse.
At the same time, the Darjeeling Hotel Owners Association has appealed to the drivers to call of their strike.
The water tanker drivers have also not allowed other private vehicles to ferry water into the town .

Truck drivers in Darjeeling have suspended till 9am tomorrow an indefinite strike they called to protest against the new timings imposed by traffic police for water supply in the town.The strike today affected the residents as well as the 300-odd hotels, which entirely depend on the trucks for the water supply.

Mitra Rai, officer-in-charge (traffic), said: “The restriction has been imposed considering the fact that tourists, who get down from trains at NJP in the morning, reach Darjeeling between 10am and 11am. We are trying to ensure that the traffic is smooth from 10am to 1pm.”

Earlier, the tankers were allowed to ply between 11am and 3pm and from 5pm to 8am.
Today, the police told the drivers that the trucks could run in the town from 12pm to 4pm everyday. A representative of the drivers said they would decide tomorrow whether they should accept the timing the police offered today.

Darjeeling toy train coaches connects Corridor

Darjeeling,Aug. 12: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) has received four vestibule coaches from Pune and they have successfully manoeuvred sharp turns in the hills in trial runs.
This is the first time that the DHR is using such coaches, which are interconnected by 2.5feet long corridors, making it possible for passengers to walk in the toy train from one end to the other.

The existing coaches of the heritage railway do not have opening space to pass through and the travellers have to jump off the train to enter another compartment.
“We are replacing 20 old coaches of the hill railway with new ones and 10 of them have vestibules. They are inter-connected and passengers can move from the front to the back on the train. Four such second class coaches have already arrived and six first class coaches are due to come from the Kurdavari Railway Coach Factory in Pune,” said Subrata Nath, the director of the DHR.

Putting to rest the apprehension that vestibule coaches would not be able to traverse the sharp turns and curvatures encountered in the ascent from the lowlands of Siliguri to hilly terrain of Darjeeling, the four bogies made a successful trial run on Monday.

“As we are using such coaches for the first time, we conducted a trial run on a 25km stretch comprising both plains and hills from Siliguri to Rongtong. The ride was successful but we will conduct another run when the six other coaches arrive. We are confident that the coaches will cover the 80km journey from Siliguri to Darjeeling without any hassles,” said Nath.

Another attraction of the new coaches will be ceiling glasses that will enable the passengers to see the hilly forests above.

“Each coach has 23 seats and there is a glass ceiling for the travellers to have an overhead view. We will use the coaches for daily rides rather than charter journeys. There will not be any change in the fare per seat,” he said.

In addition to this, all the vestibule coaches will have airbrakes.
“The new coaches have cost Rs 20 lakh each. All the vestibule coaches are fitted with airbrakes. As of now, only a few old coaches of the DHR have airbrakes. We are planning to run the coaches from the coming month,” Nath added.

New Darjeeling toy train to offer dream sightseeing experience

NEW DELHI: India's very own version of the world famous panorama railways — Britain's Ffestiniog Railway and Switzerland's Brienz Rothom Bahn — is all set to chug out. To commemorate the 127th anniversary of Darjeeling Heritage Train's inaugural journey on August 23, 1880, India will roll out its first ever Shatabdi with a transparent roof. The five-coach train, inspired by the Swiss panorama railways and specially designed to provide a real treat for tourists wanting to enjoy a 360 degree view of Darjeeling's pristine beauty, will initially run between New Jalpaiguri and Kurseong. Tentatively called The Hill Princess, the train will cover the 40-km journey in three hours. Once the entire 90-km stretch of narrow gauge track is repaired, the train will run till Darjeeling. The journey will take six hours. Speaking to TOI, Rajesh Agrawal, executive director (heritage) in the railway ministry, said the new Shatabdi will have three improved features — better interiors, an in-house entertainment system and a fully transparent roof with larger side windows for a free view of the surroundings. Agrawal said, "The design of this Shatabdi has been inspired greatly by the Swiss panorama railways. At present, tourists and daily passengers experience a rickety back-breaking ride from NJP-Kurseong. Now, they will truly enjoy this breathtaking journey while relaxing on their reclining seats and munching on snacks." The see-through roof has been made with scratch-proof polycarbonate sheet at the famous Kurduwadi rail workshop, located between Pune and Sholapur. G Ravisudhan, works manager of Kurduwadi informs, "This narrow gauge train will be the first to use the more powerful air brake system in place of the present-day vacuum brakes. The wide vision windows on the side will be 1 metre instead of the present day .7 metres." Chief mechanical officer of North-East Frontier Railways V K Jha said, "We have already received two coaches from the workshop and are waiting for the other three. The first class will have 16 seats while the second class will accommodate 32 people." According to Agrawal, the new Shatabdi will ply on the same 2 feet narrow gauge used by the DHR at present. It will start from NJP at an elevation of 100 metres and climb to 2,200 metres at Darjeeling. Though the train will pass through all the 14 stations, it will only stop once at Kurseong. "We wanted a non-stop service from NJP-Darjeeling. Track timings are therefore being worked out in such a manner that when the two trains cross, DHR will wait and let the Shatabdi pass," Agrawal added. DHR was declared a world heritage site by Unesco in 1999, only the second railway to have this honour bestowed upon it at that time, the first one being Semmering Railway of Austria in 1998.