| Darjeeling Himalayan Railway | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Passing a fruit shop in Darjeeling | |||||
| Terminus | Darjeeling | ||||
| Commercial operations | |||||
| Built by | Franklin Prestage | ||||
| Original gauge | 610 mm (2 ft) | ||||
| Preserved operations | |||||
| Owned by | Indian Railways | ||||
| Operated by | Northeast Frontier Railway | ||||
| Stations | 17 | ||||
| Length | 83.9 km | ||||
| Commercial history | |||||
| Opened | 1881; 144 years ago (1881) | ||||
| Preservation history | |||||
| Headquarters | Elysia Place,Kurseong | ||||
| Website | |||||
| dhr | |||||
 Interactive map of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway | |||||
| Part of | Mountain Railways of India | ||||
| Criteria | Cultural: (ii)(iv) | ||||
| Reference | 113645 | ||||
| Inscription | 1999 (23rdSession) | ||||
| Extensions | 2005, 2008 | ||||
| Area | 5.34 ha (13.2 acres) | ||||
| Buffer zone | 70 ha (170 acres) | ||||
| Coordinates | 26°40′48″N88°27′36″E / 26.68000°N 88.46000°E /26.68000; 88.46000 | ||||
  Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Location of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in India | |||||
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TheDarjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as theDHR or theToy Train, is a610 mm (2 ft)gauge railway that runs betweenNew Jalpaiguri andDarjeeling in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.[1] Built between 1879 and 1881, it is about 88 km (55 mi) long.[2] It climbs from about 100 m (330 ft) above sea level at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 m (7,200 ft) at Darjeeling, using sixzig zags and threeloops (originally five) to gain altitude.[3] Ghum station is situated at an altitude of 2,258 metres (7,407 ft). Sixdiesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled service, with daily tourist trains from Darjeeling toGhum – India's highest railway station – and the steam-hauledRed Panda service from Darjeeling toKurseong.[4] Steam-enthusiast specials are hauled by vintage British-builtB-Classsteam locomotives. The railway's headquarters are at Kurseong.
On 5 December 1999,UNESCO declared the DHR aWorld Heritage Site.[5] Two more railway lines were later added, and the site became known as one of themountain railways of India.
Siliguri, at the base of theHimalayas, was connected withCalcutta (now Kolkata) by ametre gauge railway in 1878.[6]Between Siliguri and Darjeeling,Tanga services ran on a cart road – the present-dayHill Cart Road.[7]Franklin Prestage, an agent of theEastern Bengal Railway, approached the government with a proposal to lay a steam tramway from Siliguri to Darjeeling.[7]Ashley Eden, lieutenant governor ofBengal, formed a committee to assess the project's feasibility. The proposal was accepted in 1879 after a positive report by the committee,[7] and construction began that year.
Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company was hired to construct the line and, by March 1880, track was laid as far asTindharia, andLord Lytton, the firstviceroy to visit Darjeeling, rode to Tindharia on the train.[7] Colonel F.S. Taylor, R.E., Consulting Engineer to the Government of India for Guaranteed Railways, and Franklin Prestage inspected the line and authorised the stretch from Siliguri to Kurseong open for traffic from 16 August 1880.[8] It opened a few days later on 23 August 1880. The stretch from Siliguri to Darjeeling opened on 4 July 1881.[9][10] The company's name was changed to Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Company.[11]
Although the railway originally followed Hill Cart Road, the steepness of the road was more than the locomotives could handle in some areas. In 1882, four loops and four zig-zags were built betweenSukna andGayabari to ease the gradient[12] to a uniform 1 in 28.[13] The line was extended by a quarter-mile to Darjeeling Bazar in 1886.[10] The Darjeeling station was renovated in 1891 and Kurseong got a new station building and storage shed in 1896,[12] but the railway was affected by an 1897 earthquake and a major cyclone in 1899.[12] In 1902, heavy rains caused many landslips along the route and the Teesta bridge was washed away.[14] Services were maintained with transhipments at the breaks.
In 1910, the DHR carried 174,000 passengers and 47,000 tons of goods.[12] The firstbogie carriages entered service, replacing basic four-wheel carriages. DHR extension lines were built toKishanganj in 1914 andGielkhola in 1915.[10] At Tindharia, the railway works were relocated from behind the locomotive shed to a larger site.[12]
TheBatasia Loop was constructed in 1919, creating easier gradients on the ascent from Darjeeling.[12] The DHR began facing competition from buses operating on the Hill Cart Road which took less time than the railway to reach Darjeeling. In 1934, a major earthquake inBihar shook all of Northeast India. Many buildings in Darjeeling were heavily damaged and the railway was also affected, although it soon recovered and played a vital role in transporting repair materials.[12] DuringWorld War II, the DHR transported military personnel and supplies to the camps around Ghum and Darjeeling.[12]
In 1951, the railway was purchased by the Indian government and absorbed into the government railway organisation[12] before it was managed by theAssam Railway. Assam Railway (including the DHR) became part of theNorth Eastern Railway zone in 1952,[12] and part ofIndian Railways'Northeast Frontier Railway zone six years later.[12] In 1962, the railway was realigned at Siliguri and extended by nearly 6 km (3.7 mi) toNew Jalpaiguri (NJP) to meet the new broad-gauge line there.[12] The extension began freight service that year, and passenger service in 1964. The locomotive shed and carriage depot at Siliguri Junction were moved to NJP.
The railway was closed for 18 months during theGorkhaland hostilities in 1988 and 1989.[12] It was declared aWorld Heritage Site byUNESCO in 1999.[5]
Following theCOVID-19 pandemic in the country, the service was stopped for 18 months from March 2020 to August 2021. On 25 August 2021, the service was restarted fromNew Jalpaiguri toDarjeeling with the new vistadome coaches for the tourists.[15]
The DHR and its assets, including the stations, line and vehicles, is owned by thegovernment of India and entrusted to theMinistry of Railways. The Northeast Frontier Railway documented the railway in a comprehensive register, and handles its day-to-day maintenance and management. Several programs, divisions and departments of Indian Railways are responsible for operating, maintaining and repairing the DHR. It is protected by the 1989 Railway Act and the stipulations governing public property.[16] It is now headed by the director, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
All the steam locomotives currently in use on the railway are0-4-0STB-Class, built bySharp, Stewart and Company and later theNorth British Locomotive Company between 1889 and 1925. A total of 34 were built but, by 2005, only 12 were still in use or being repaired by the railway.
In 2002, No. 787 was rebuilt for oil firing on the same principle as that used onNilgiri Mountain Railway No. 37395. A diesel-powered generator was fitted to operate theoil burner and an electrically driven feed pump, and a diesel-powered compressor was fitted to power the braking system. The locomotive was also fitted with afeedwater heater. The rebuild dramatically changed its appearance. Trials of the refitted locomotive were disappointing, and it never entered regular service; in early 2011, it was in the Tindharia Works awaiting re-conversion to coal-firing. In early 2019, B787 was restored cosmetically and is now displayed on a plinth outside Siliguri Junction station.
In March 2001, No. 794 was transferred to theMatheran Hill Railway for a "joy train"[17] (a steam-hauled tourist train) on that railway. It entered service there in May 2002.
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Six diesel locomotives are in use: Nos. 600–605 of the NDM-6 class, built in 1997. Three additional NDM-6 locomotives were expected to enter operational service during 2025.[18]
The DHR purchased the thirdGarratt locomotive built, aD Class0-4-0+0-4-0T, in 1910. Only one DHR steam locomotive has been taken out of India:DHR 778 (originally No. 19). After many years out of use at theHesston Steam Museum, it was sold toAdrian Shooter in the UK and restored to working order. It was based for nearly 20 years at the privately ownedBeeches Light Railway inOxfordshire, and visited theFfestiniog Railway, theLaunceston Steam Railway and theLeighton Buzzard Light Railway during this time. In 2023, it was sold at auction to a newly formed trust who will keep it at theStatfold Barn Railway,[19] and after the next overhaul plan to take the locomotive to other 2 ft gauge railways.
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The line follows Hill Cart Road, which is part ofNational Highway 110. The track is on the roadside for long stretches, and both track and road might be blocked by arockslide. Since a length of the road is flanked with buildings, the railway line often resembles urban tramway tracks. To warn pedestrians and drivers of an approaching train, engines are equipped with very loudhorns andwhistles which train drivers sound almost constantly.
A major difficulty faced by the DHR was the steepness of the terrain.Loops andzig-zags were incorporated along the route to achieve a comfortablegradient. When the train moves forward, reverses and then moves forward again (climbing a slope while doing so), it gains altitude along the side of the hill.
TheEarl of Ronaldshay described a journey on the railway 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.[24]
The trip to Darjeeling by rail has changed little since that time, and remains popular with travelers and rail enthusiasts. Liketea and theGhurka culture, the DHR has become an essential feature of the landscape and an enduring part of Darjeeling's identity.[25]
Several films have depicted the railway. ProtagonistRajesh Khanna sings "Mere Sapno Ki Rani" to heroineSharmila Tagore, who is on the train, in the 1969 filmAradhana.[26][27] Other films which include the railway areBarfi!,Parineeta andRaju Ban Gaya Gentleman. Ananthropomorphized version of one of the B-Class locomotives appears briefly in Disney'sPlanes (2013) when an airplane flies through a tunnel and nearly collides with the train.[28]
TheBBC series "The World About Us" made a documentary episode about the Indian Railways in 1975, titled "The Romance of Indian Railways".[29] The documentary included a section on Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, with colour footage of the original steam trains in use.
TheBBC made a series of three documentaries[30] on the mountain railways of India, which was first broadcast in February 2010. The first episode covers the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the second theNilgiri Mountain Railway, and the third theKalka–Shimla Railway. The documentaries, directed byTarun Bhartiya, Hugo Smith and Nick Mattingly, were produced by Gerry Troyna. The documentary on Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was directed by Tarun Bhartiya. The series won the UK Royal Television Society Award in June 2010.[31]
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society (DHRS) is a preservation and support group, founded in 1998 and with a membership of over 750 people across twenty countries. Until his death in December 2022, the President of the DHRS was the British railway executiveAdrian Shooter.[32][33]
locos are being built at the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) workshop at New Bongaigaon in neighbouring Assam … "…three new diesel engines … will be introduced on the DHR tracks by the end of March [2025]" Priyanshu, the director of the DHR … "Initially, it was decided that these locos would be manufactured at the DHR's own workshop … project was shifted to New Bongaigaon … sum of ₹15 crore is being spent to make these locos," the official said.
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