For the first time since the service began 118 years ago, the Indian Railways is prepared to deploy three new toy trains on the Kalka-Shimla route, according to railways officials acquainted with the programme. The trains are expected to begin running by the end of the year.
“The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala manufactures coaches for the Kalka-Shimla toy trains. They will be operating by December, according to a railway officials.
The new toy trains will run on the British-built 96.6-kilometer narrow-gauge rails, which were completed in 1903. The coaches designed by German manufacturer Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB), which will be used on the Kalka-Shimla route, are “lighter in weight, have increased codal life, better safety, higher carrying capacity, and speed potential as compared to the old Integral Coach Factory (ICF) model coaches,” according to the official, who did not want to be identified.
According to the official, up to 30 new-generation LHB carriages would be built for toy trains with a 765-mm narrow gauge.
Narrow gauge rails having a width of less than 1,435 mm.
“The new AC coaches will feature 180-degree rotatable chair seats, while the GS coaches will have a flip-type seating layout,” said another railways official, who also sought anonymity. “They will also have CCTVs, a passenger announcement system, a passenger information system, and a built-in LED destination board.”
“The three new trains in Kalka-Shimla will have two emergency alarm push buttons per coach, flexible gangway, onboard WiFi for infotainment with tiny modem, ergonomically built cushioned seats, among other things,” a railways official from Kapurthala said.
In the event of private or group reservations, the new trains will allow for changes in seating layouts. “Seats will be arranged in the new coaches in such a way that their configurations in the coach may be modified as passengers’ needs vary,” the source stated.
Coaches with a wider panoramic view, windows with VLT controllable curved glass in the roof, body side bi-foldable doors, sound and vibration damp floating floor, aesthetically textured interior fibreglass reinforced panels and LED-based linear lightings, and under slung mounted electrical smart switch board cabinet for AC and general seating (GS) coaches will be included in the new trains.
“From 2020 to 2021, Railways began producing Vistadome carriages. The LHB platform is being used to create these coaches. ICF Chennai constructed seven such LHB vistadome coaches in 2020 and 15 in 2021, according to another official.
On this route, 15 narrow gauge Vistadome coaches are now in service, with amenities such as larger windows, window roller blinds, and honeycomb blinds for roof glass, among others.
Apart from Kalka-Shimla, India has toy trains such as the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (Tamil Nadu), the Matheran Hill Railway, and the Kangra Valley Railway (Himachal Pradesh).
The railway runs vistadome coaches on lines such as Ahmedabad-Kevadia, Mumbai-Madgaon, Mumbai-Pune, Vishakhapatnam-Araku-Kirandul, Yeshwantpur-Karwar (via Mangaluru), and Mumbai (Dadar)-Madgaon, according to officials. “We will also be introducing vistadome carriages on these broad-gauge trains to attract more visitors on these lines,” the source added.
