The Present Scenario and Thoughts For The Future
by R.R. Bhandari
THE PRESENT SCENARIO
The author of this article visited Darjeeling Himalaya Railway (DHR)
in March 1999, met the people who maintain and operate the system and
the managers who manage it in its present situation. The author also had
a long chat with the Divisional Railway Manager, Katihar, the division
wherein DHR is located. The Katihar division provided a monograph
‘World Heritage: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway; A Challenge to restore,
maintain and upgrade services, keeping the heritage values intact’, and a
photo album. These monographs were distributed during a seminar
presentation by Mr. A.K. Mukhopadhyay, Divisional Railway Manager,
Katihar. Most of the material of this section is from these monographs and
other data collected during author’s recent visit of DHR.
FEATURES
1. Stations, their distance from Siliguri and altitude from mean
sea level in feet.
Stations on the Narrow Gauge Route
| Station | Distance (km)
from Siliguri | Altitude in Ft. |
|---|
| New Jalpaiguri | (-) 7.42 | 480 |
| Siliguri Town | (-) 2.43 | 500 |
| Siliguri Junction | 0.00 | 510 |
| Sukna | 10.06 | 533 |
| Rangtong | 17.70 | 1404 |
| Chunbhati | 24.54 | 2208 |
| Tindharia | 29.77 | 2822 |
| Gayabari | 36.20 | 3516 |
| Mahanadi | 42.08 | 4120 |
| Kurseong | 49.48 | 4864 |
| Tung | 56.92 | 5656 |
| Sonadah | 64.97 | 6552 |
| Ghum | 74.03 | 7407 |
| Darjeeling | 80.06 | 6812 |
Total distance from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling (80.06 + 7.42) =
87.48 kms.
2. System
System Description
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway attained peak operational capacity in
1947 just before nationalisation. It had then 45 Locomotives, 1439 passenger
coaches and 606 wagons. Gradually the stock was condemned and
auctioned. No replacement was made because of declining and unprofitable
operation.
The goods traffic has been withdrawn from 1992-93. All wagons
withdrawn from service were condemned and auctioned for sale.
System of Operation
Between Darjeeling and Sukna, the trains run as per provision of
“Main Line System” which is a combination of “Following Train and Pilot
Guard System”. Between Sukna and New Jalpaiguri trains run on “Absolute
Block System”.
Approximately running time is as follows:-
New Jalpaiguri -- Kurseong = 5 hours.
Kurseong -- Darjeeling = 31/2 hrs.
The time-table provides for two trains each way from New Jalpaiguri
to Darjeeling and 1 train each way from Kurseong to Darjeeling. Usually
one train from New Jalpaiguri and another from Kurseong are operated.
During tourist season, tourist specials are run from Darjeeling to Ghum
and back are the main source of DHR’s meagre earning.
3. Staff Employed on DHR
Excluding the Printing Press (which employes 276 persons) at
Kurseong, a total of 886 persons are on rolls of DHR. The major
concentration is at Tindharia Workshop (146); Tindharia Open Line
mechanical staff (326); Inspector of Works, Tindharia (60); Permanent
Way Staff at Kurseong (210); and Medical Staff at Tindharia (53).
4. Track Details
- Gauge - 2’ 0’
- Rail- 50 lbs (Originally 41 1/4 lbs rails were laid)
- Sleeper -- wooden with M+3 density in straight and M+4
density in curves.
- Cushion-Mostly earth, Partly unscreened shingle & stone
ballast.
- No. of level crossings - 177 ‘C’ class unmanned.
- Total number of bridges = 550
- Major bridges = 8
- Most of the points are 1 in 8½ design, except three points
of 1 in 5 design.
- Vulnerable locations for landslide and sinking zones.
| Sl. No. | KM | Between Stations |
|---|
| 1 | 10/0 to 14/5 | Sukna - Rangtong |
| 2 | 23/0 to 24/0 | Rangtong - Tindharia |
| 3 | 25/4 to 25/14 | |
| 4 | 31/0 to 34/0 | Tindharia — Gayabari |
| 5 | 38/4 to 39/5 | Gayabari - Mahanadi |
| 6 | 52/0 to 53/11 | Kurseong - Tung |
5. Expenditure during 1997-98 (Rs. in million)
i) For maintenance and operation of mechanical assets = 28.15
ii) For salary of civil engineering staff = 13.81
Contractual work of civil engineering varied considerable from year
to year. Expenditure on other departments is comparatively low. Perhaps
it may be safe to assume that overall expenses for operating and maintianing
DHR now will be in the range of Rs. 50 millions.
6. Earnings
Earnings stationwise on a monthly average basis, based on
1997-98 figures.
| Station | No. of
Passengers | Earnings in
Rs. thousand |
|---|
| Sukna | 285 | 3.7 |
| Rangtong | 20 | 0.1 |
| Tindharia | 7250 | 9.0 |
| Gayabari | 15 | 0.1 |
| Mahanadi | 3 | - |
| Kurseong | 10848 | 1458.9 |
| Tung | 183 | 4.0 |
| Sonada | 526 | 17.6 |
| Ghum | 2421 | 117.4 |
| Darjeeling | 52304 | 8634.6 |
Most of the earnings at Kurseong and Darjeeling are from passengers
buying long distance journey tickets (other than on DHR) as substantial
quota is available here.
An analysis of earnings on DHR for the year 1997-98 brings out
interesting results. During 1996-97, a total of 19620 passengers performed
journey originating from Darjeeling by regular DHR trains and contributed
Rs. 143,114 i.e. a passenger paying Rs. 7/- per journey from Darjeeling.
In the same year 2117 tourists performed a short excursion tour from
Darjeeling to Ghum and back and contributed Rs. 171,442 i.e. a passenger
paying Rs. 85/- per round trip journey. Most of the earnings are from these
tourist specials.
However, the statistics brings out the fact that the total earnings of
DHR is less than half a million, while the expenditure is about 50 million,
i.e., for each rupee to be earned, DHR spends over Rs. 100!
The statistics also bring out that on an average about 50 persons
perform their journey in a day. That is to say that a bus-load of
passengers are carried by the mammoth organisation of DHR employing
about 900 employees.
7. Land use by DHR
DHR is a tramway using a part of the old cart way now a State highway with
177 level crossings. At most places DHR runs side by side of the roadway,
however its path cannot be used by road-vehicles like in Calcutta. At most
places DHR occupies a fourth of the common path. The other three fourth of
path carry most (99%) of the traffic. Thus DHR is a very poor user of the
important asset of the hill road.
THOUGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
Dr. Robert Lee along with Mr. Rajesh Agarwal, Director, National
Rail Museum, New Delhi made an inspection visit to Darjeeling Hill section
on 7/8.1.1999 and travelled in DH section by Toy Train. The proposal for
considering Darjeeling Hill Railway section and Toy Train as a World
Heritage site through the aegis of International Council for Monument and
Sites (ICOMOS), an organ of UNESCO, was in process for over one year,
through various stages of inspection, documentations etc. Dr. Robert Lee
came as a representative of UNESCO and ICOMOS, for the final inspection and
then sent his report to ICOMOS. This report was then considered by the
ICOMOS Board during their Board meeting in March ‘99. After it was
cleared in the ICOMOS Board meeting this went to UNESCO for final
consideration. Finally on 02.12.1999 DHR went on to become UNESCO’s
World Heritage Site.
The future of DHR thus appears to be bright to a group of
people.
Let us take respite and think on these two statements
(a) DHR spends 100 times its revenue for moving just a bus-load of
traffic. This is trifle compared to the total traffic on
the cart-road.
(b) DHR uses 25% of the hill-road for carrying less than 1% of
the traffic. This hill-road is even otherwise very narrow at
most places.
And now a few questions and their suggested answers.
Q. Who are the customers of DHR?
Ans. A bus-load of passengers who travel on DHR for short journeys
and a group of tourists who are ready to pay good money for a
short excursion trip between Darjeeling and Ghum.
Q. Who are benefited by continuing DHR in its present shape?
Ans. The employees of DHR and the contractors of various works
and a group of rail enthusiasts who will prefer DHR to survive for
their old memories.
Q. Who subsidises the huge losses of DHR?
Ans. Indian Railways. Because of its mammoth size, an expenditure of
Rs. 50 million and a manpower of about 900 form an insignificant
part.
Q. Who are adversely affected by continuing DHR?
Ans. The commoner of the Darjeeling-New Jalpaiguri region. The
cart-way is a narrow one and its use is further reduced by DHR
track. At one time, the hill council was up in arms against DHR,
somehow they have been influenced by ‘world heritage’ syndrome
and are tolerating a blatant misuse of the most important of their
resource i.e., the cart-road.
Q. Should we allow DHR to die?
Ans. No and surely no. But should we allow the carcass of DHR to
haunt the lives of commoners of the hill area who have no voice,
for there can be better alternatives.
Q. Should DHR be preserved?
Ans. Yes and certainly yes. But not in its present shape. This will raise
some more issues and they are discussed in the subsequent
paras.
Indian Railways have five ‘Mountain’ or ‘Hill
Railways’. A ‘Hill’ Railway is a system, wherein a hill station is
connected by a rail line. The five hill railways are
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (Built in 1880)
- Nilgiri Railway (Built in 1898)
- Kalka -- Simla Railway (Built in
1903)
- Matheran Light Railway (Built in
1907)
- Kangra Valley Railway (Built in
1928)
These five mountain railways are
peculiar in their own rights.
- Nilgiri Railway is famous for its
rack and pinion system and the very
special ‘X’ locomotives.
- Kalka-Simla Railway is famous for
its multi-tier Roman arch bridges and
numerous tunnels on the system.
- Matheran Light Railway on a 2ft. alignment is famous for its very
sharp curves (48 ft. radius) and the articulated steam locomotives, a
rather rare breed of locomotives.
- Kangra Valley railway is famous for its scenic beauty and absence of
tunnels, thus giving the full benefit about its surroundings to a
traveller.
- DHR is famous for its i) Loops ii) ‘Z’ Reversing stations and iii)
‘B’ class steam locomotives of 1889 design continuing in service even
after over 100 years.
Pure economic considerations will suggest that there is no necessity
of continuing DHR. The problem, therefore, takes another angle and that
is ‘Heritage’. Can we afford to waste such a large number of resources in
the garb of preserving heritage? The question comes back what needs to
be preserved and what needs to be discarded. My career at Railway
Museum and experience in subsequent years, taught me that things of
speciality only need to be preserved, and other things which are of little
significance should be discarded by proper weeding. The same thing
needs to be done for DHR i.e., preserve three things, for which it is
famous i.e., the loops, the ‘Z’ stations and ‘B’ class locomotives. A sample
of these three can be preserved and the entire section of DHR can thus
be closed for making the hill road fully available for road traffic. The people
of Darjeeling area will be immensely grateful if DHR track is removed from
most of the cart way. A proper preservation can thus be organised and
managed at a much lesser cost.
The author proposes that
- Batasia loop should be preserved. Perhaps we can preserve the
track from Darjeeling to Ghum station and run tourist specials on
this section only. The Batasia loop, the best amongst the existing
loops, can easily represent other loops.
- Preserve one ‘Z’ reversing station near Tindharia Workshop. Perhaps
one ‘B’ class locomotive attached with a carriage can work for
tourists on special occasions to and from the Workshop and ‘Z’
reversing station.
- A couple of ‘B’ class locomotives can be kept in operation -- a few at
Darjeeling for running tourist specials between Darjeeling and Ghum
and a few at Tindharia Workshop for working from the Workshop to
the ‘Z’ Station and back. All other ‘B’ class locomotives can be
preserved at other vantage positions.
(The views expressed in the article do not reflect the perception of the
society. We do however intend to encourage a debate on the subject and
will be publishing a follow up on the above views in the next issue. This will
highlight the importance of preserving DHR a such and not as scattered
tit-bits. Readers who may like to contribute can send their thoughts to the
editor)
