Toy train running on the lush green stretch of Kalka-Shimla.
– Photo : Railway
Expansion
The crowd of tourists has started increasing on the Kalka-Shimla railway section, a world heritage railway section. In such a situation, passengers have to resort to Tatkal only to get confirmed tickets. Due to this they are facing problems. Railways has started efforts to solve this problem.
Railways has started operating summer special train number 04563 from April 12. In view of the crowd, in the coming time, a list may also be released regarding operation of some other trains. Regarding this, the railway officials are constantly keeping an eye on the status of tickets and the number of tourists traveling in the toy train, so that permission can be given to operate special trains as soon as there is more crowd. At present, seven pairs of trains are operating on the Kalka-Shimla railway section. Of these, waiting tickets are available in five trains and some seats are still lying vacant in two trains.
Train No. 52455 Himalayan Queen has 26 waiting tickets in AC chair car and 14 waiting tickets in first class AC coach. Similarly, 7 waiting in the first class coach of Train No. 52451 Shivalik Deluxe Express, 3 waiting in the first class coach of Train No. 04506 Kalka-Shimla Special and 4 in Vistadome coach, 13 waiting in the second class coach of Train No. 52453 Kalka-Shimla Express, Vistadome. There is 12 waiting rooms in non-AC coaches and 8 waiting rooms in first class AC coaches. Four waiting tickets are available in the Vistadome coach of train number 52459 Kalka-Shimla Express.
There are 63 seats vacant in the second class coach of train number 04563 Kalka-Shimla. Similarly, 13 seats are vacant in first class and 4 in Vistadome coach, while 52 seats are vacant in AC chaircar coach and 21 seats in first class coach of train number 52457 Kalka-Shimla Express.
A large number of tourists from India and abroad come to see the beauty of the World Heritage Kalka-Shimla section. In such a situation, special trains are being run to ensure that they do not face any problem. Operation of a special train has been started from April 12. If the crowd increases, a plan will also be prepared for operating some other special trains. – Naveen Kumar, Senior Commercial Manager, Ambala Division.
