Tourists enjoy ride in Tamil Nadu's world heritage train

Udhagamandalam (TN), Oct 14 : Tamil Nadu centenary celebrations are in full swing with the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR)'s Coonoor - Ooty train conferred with the World Heritage status.

The famous mountain railway train that played host to the famous Bollywood song 'chhaiyya chhaiyya' featuring Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan will turn 100 on October 15.

On Monday, a heritage run of NMR with a steam engine was kicked off by R. VELU, minister of state for railways as a part of the two-month- long celebrations.

To mark the centenary celebrations, instead of the diesel engine train, a special locomotive steam engine was attached.

Hundreds of tourists thronged here to be a part of the celebrations.

"I am very happy to travel in the centenary celebration train and I really enjoyed the scenes," said Ravi, a tourist.

Way back in the year 1908, on October 15, the first train ran between the two stations.

According to official sources, the NMR is incurring an annual loss of 60 million rupees but the state authorities have decided not to stop the services, as it is a major tourist attraction. The 18 km railway line is a part of the 46-km long Mettupalayam-Udhagamandalam NMR, which was accorded UNESCO world heritage status along with the Darjeeling Himalayan railway line.

ANI