Mumbai: After more than a year of being off-track, Central Railway will resume toy train services from Aman Lodge to Matheran from Monday. The Neral-Matheran train service was shut down in May last year following two derailments. The train, which has a seating capacity of 100, is scheduled to leave Aman Lodge at 9.25 am and will reach Matheran around 9.55 am.
The first-class fare for adults has gone up from Rs 265 to Rs 300 and for children from Rs 160 to Rs 180. However, second-class fares remain untouched at Rs 45 for an adult and Rs 30 for children.
Officials also said that it would take another year to resume services between Aman Lodge and Neral, due to technical issues.
The connectivity to Neral is important as it enables commuters to alight from the local train and catch the toy train in a matter of minutes. However, commuters are not complaining and have welcomed even the partial relief to their pockets.
Many said that getting to Matheran in the last one year has been burning a hole in their pocket, Hiral Naphade (26), a designer spent almost '700 to get from Neral to Matheran when she visited in January this year.
“We went to Dastur point, and after that we had to take a handcart that cost us '700 I was not used to riding a horse. Earlier, the train was available from Neral station to Matheran via Aman Lodge and it would stop at a walking distance from the hotels.”
Chief Public Relations Officer, Sunil Udasi said, “We are glad that the line is up and running again. It has been the culmination of our efforts that this has finally happened and we are able to announce that the station will once again be open to the public.’
The CR has cleared all the safety parameters that they were asked to review after the derailment, like changing the tracks with new ones, making sure that the steep nature of the line would not cause another derailment, and the train brakes were changed from manual to air-suspension, which will allow the motorman to immediately slow down and halt the train.
