Darjeeling 'Toy Train' to revive tourism

Siliguri, Feb 16 (ANI): The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society (DHRS), a voluntary organization, is on a lookout for the development of the 'Toy Train' West Bengal, with an aim to revive tourism.

Cutting across the steep terrains, the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway or the 'Toy Train' is a two feet narrow gauge railway from Siliguri to Darjeeling run by the Indian Railways. Tourists from all over the world come to visit this place to take ride in this toy train, but for the past few years, the services of the have been affected a number of times due to political movements and the random protests by the ethnic Gorkhas.

As a result, the services were being suspended and the tourists coming from abroad had to suffer.

DHRS, an organization formed by people from 24 countries including India, was on having its annual meeting in India to discuss the development of tourism using the Toy Train.

David Barry, Chairman of DHRS in England, said that they are looking forward to promote toy train worldwide in a bid to attract more and more tourists to Darjeeling.

"We do lots and lots of ways to publicize it in the UK. We have talks, and distribute films about it. We make whole stations on preserve railways in Darjeeling. We decorate the train and we get a lot of publicity and media attention. That is how we hope to promote it and bring people here to visit it and experience the magic for themselves," Barry added.

The head of DHRS India support group, Rajendra Kumar Baid said that they are focussing on the improvement of the DHR services and betterment of the people along the DHR line.

"We are planning and discussing on how to improve the services? How to improve the DHR aspect of the services? Moreover, we want to do more social work for the betterment of the people along the DHR line," said Baid. (ANI)