Tourists dry up after halt of Neral-Matheran services

Hotels in Matheran are seeing nearly 50 per cent cancellations by tourists after Central Railway (CR) stopped Neral-Matheran services on May 8 evening. So much so, CR has already got requests from hotels based out of the popular summer destination to restart its services, according to officials.

There were two derailments on the Neral-Matheran route, one on May 1 and the other on May 8, sparking public outcry among commuters who expressed that the railway needs to make the route safer.

Speaking of the impact on business, one of the hotel owners at Aman Lodge requesting anonymity said that they earn their bread and butter in the period between March end and June 15. “I have around 25 rooms and all of them were full booked until Monday morning when news of services being shut began trickling in. Ever since, people have been calling and cancelling their booking and I have lost more than half of my bookings because of the train services,” he said.

Meanwhile, senior railway officials met on Tuesday and decided that the train will not be reopened even in October. “We will not be reopening the line after monsoon as well since it is obvious that we can’t keep running the line without up gradation that will need investment,” said an official who did not wish to be named.

In fact in the preliminary report to the Railway Board, CR has refused to take responsibility of the line and has instead asked for the state government to take over the line. “The CR in its report has asked the state to get involved and run the line because we do not have any monetary gains from tourism, etc,” the official added.

CR has estimated a cost of Rs 2,000 crore for complete up gradation of the line.