Plans afoot to upgrade Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

New Delhi, Nov 24 (UNI) Enthused over the response to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), the government today said it had hammered out plans to upgrade the heritage train through improvement of station buildings and upgrading passenger amenities.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Railways R Velu said the task would be accomplished with a slew of other measures such as induction of new coaches, upgradation of track and modernisation of Tindharia railway factory and Kharsand railway Press.

''Plan for upgradation of Tindharia workshop is in progress.

However, the heritage character of its assets will be preserved during upgradation,'' he said, adding that there was no plan to modernise the Kurseong Railway Press.

The plan for upgradation of Tindharia workshop includes upgradation of building, induction of new machines and rehabilitation of existing machinery and plant.

Replying to another query, the Minister said there was no proposal to discontinue Swarna Jayanti Express and Millennium Express, two Kerala-bound weekly trains from Delhi.

Mr Velu also denied that there was a proposal to introduce bullet trains on the Chennai-Madurai and Chennai-Coimbatore sectors.

''Introduction of bullet trains requires separate dedicated infrastructure and massive investments with relatively low returns and is not a priority at present,'' he said.

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