Darjeeling Himalayan Rlwys to celebrate 125 yrs

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) The Government has planned to celebrate the completion of 125 years of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR), which had been accorded the heritage status.

Minister of State for Railways R Velu said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today that DHR will be completing 125th year of its existence on August 23 this year and the Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway planned to celebrate the occasion in accordance with its historic importance.

He said at Siliguri Junction station of Katihar Division of NF Railways, three different gauge--broad gauge, metre gauge and narrow gauge--exist simultaneously. It has been planned to run three steam hauled special trains on the three gauges as part of the celebrations.

Three special trains will run from Siliguri Junction. One will go to Chalsa on Alipurduar Division on broad gauge covering a distance of 58 km. Chalsa is a reserved forest location.

The second one will go upto Bagdogra on metre gauge covering a distance of 10 km and the last one will terminate at Tindharia on narrow gauge covering a distance of 30 km.

The railway has also planned to hold cultural programmes on this occasion.

UNI BKS MSJ DS1352