Transport inDarjeeling consists of the intra-city transport and the communication between the city and other locations inDarjeeling district. Darjeeling (pronunciationⓘ) is ahill station in theIndian state ofWest Bengal and it is the headquarters of Darjeeling district situated in theMahabharat Range (orLesser Himalaya) at an average elevation of 2,134 m abovesea level.
The town of Darjeeling can be reached by the 80-kilometre longDarjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the "Toy Train", fromSiliguri. It is a 60-centimetre (2-foot)narrow-gauge railway run by theIndian Railways.
Established in 1881, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was declared aWorld Heritage Site byUNESCO in 1999, only the second railway after theSemmering Railway inAustria to have this honour.[1] The toy train leaves from Siliguri, a station located a few kilometres fromNew Jalpaiguri, and takes about 8 hours to reach Darjeeling through the meandering mountain railway line. The elevation level is from about 100 m in Siliguri to about 2200 m in Darjeeling. It is to this day powered by asteam engine. A modern diesel engine is used for Darjeeling's mail. The railway has long been viewed with affection and enthusiasm by travellers to the region, and theEarl of Ronaldshay gave the following description of a journey in the early 1920s:
"Siliguri is palpably a place of meeting.[.....] The discovery that here the metre gauge system ends and the two foot gauge of the Darjeeling-Himalayan railway begins, confirms what all these things hint at.[....]One steps into a railway carriage which might easily be mistaken for a toy, and the whimsical idea seizes hold of one that one has accidentally stumbled into Lilliput. With a noisy fuss out of all proportion to its size the engine gives a jerk - and starts.[....] No special mechanical device such as a rack is employed - unless, indeed, one can so describe the squat and stolid hill-man who sits perched over the forward buffers of the engine and scatters sand on the rails when the wheels of the engine lose their grip of the metals and race, with the noise of a giant spring running down when the control has been removed. Sometimes we cross our own track after completing the circuit of a cone, at others we zigzag backwards and forwards; but always we climb at a steady gradient - so steady that if one embarks in a trolley atGhum, the highest point on the line, the initial push supplies all the energy necessary to carry one to the bottom."[2]
The trip up to Darjeeling on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has changed little since that time, and continues to delight travellers and rail enthusiasts, so much so that it has its own preservation and support group, theDarjeeling Himalayan Railway Society.
The Operation of Darjeeling Himalayan Railways betweenSiliguri andKurseong was temporarily suspended following a Landslide at Tindharia between 2010 and 2015.[3]
The Hill Cart Road (National Highway 110) connects Darjeeling with Siliguri. There is another road connecting the two towns viaMirik. There are two different shortcut routes off the Hill Cart Road that go through Pankhabari and Rohini, respectively.Four wheel drives are the most popular means of transport, as they can easily navigate the steep slopes in the region. Many vintageLand Rovers ply in the route.[4][5] AlsoMaruti Omni and severalSUVs are common. The road and toy train communication often get disrupted during the monsoons season due tolandslides.Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus in Siliguri is the most important bus terminus in the region.
Darjeeling does not have an airstrip. The nearest airport isBagdogra airport (IXB), near Siliguri, which is a 3-hour (approx. 90 km) drive from Darjeeling.Air India,GoAir,IndiGo andSpiceJet fly to Bagdogra.
New Jalpaiguri, serving the town ofSiliguri, is the nearest major railway station. New Jalpaiguri is well connected to major Indian cities, especiallyKolkata.
Intra-city transport is mostly by hired taxis. However, walking remains the most widely used method for travelling in this hilly town. Two-wheelers are also popularly used by the residents.
The 8 km (5 mi) longDarjeeling Ropeway connecting Darjeeling's North Point withSingla, which was started in 1968, was closed after an accident in 2003.[6] It reopened in February 2012.[7]
