The toy train, also known as the Himalayan Queen, will once again be heard on the Kalka-Shimla railway track. After a gap of about seven months due to the lockdown, the Kalka-Shimla Express special train will ply on the heritage railway track from October 21 till November 30. The train will take 42 trips in all. Railways decided to operate this special toy train in view of the festival season.
The toy train (04516) will depart from Kalka at 12.10pm and reach Shimla at 5.20pm. It will then depart from Shimla at 10.35am and arrive at the Kalka station at 4.10pm.
The Kalka-Shimla Express special train will have seven coaches in total, including two luxury coaches. The train will have three coaches of CZ category, one of CZR category, one of GS category, and two of coaches of FCZ category.
For this, sanitisation of the Shimla railway station was done on Monday. Apart from the station platform, the waiting hall and passenger area were also sanitised. The maintenance work of the railway track has also been completed. The Kalka-Shimla railway track, which was built during the British era in 1903, is 96 kilometres long and has a 2.6 feet narrow gauge track which goes through 18 railway stations and has over 880 bridges and more than 100 tunnels. It was declared a world heritage railway line by UNESCO in 2008.
