COONOOR: After a gap of six years, the ‘Summer Special’ train has made its appearance in Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) on Saturday. Distribution of nourishing hill district products to passengers by the railway is making this year’s summer special a value-added satisfaction to visiting tourists.
The summer specials in NMR, which was a routine one in the past, had been scrapped between 2009 and 2012 due to poor hauling conditions of the steam locomotives in the NMR. Though railways operated summer special in NMR in 2012 with induction of indigenous steam locomotives, it failed to carry on the summer special legacy later due to various reasons.
Now, much to the del-ight of the NMR fans and tourists, the Southern Railway has begun to operate summer specials with enhanced fare, as announced earlier, during the weekends till June 24, between the racked Mettuplayam-Coonoor sector of the NMR.
This special, christened “Heritage Steam Voyage” summer special, a fully reserved train, starts from Mettupalayam at 9.10 am and reaches Coonoor by 12.30 pm. In the return direction, the train leaves Coonoor at 1.30 pm and reaches Mettupalayam by 4.20 pm. The single trip has a total seating capacity of 132.
Southern Railway has made elaborate arrangements to make this travel a pleasant memory of a life time with new value addition, such as on-board refreshments including Nilgiris tea, samosa, tetra pack juice, mineral water. They also provide a few mementoes such as a bottle of eucalyptus oil, Nilgiris tea dust from TANTEA, a key chain besides a handout on NMR heritage to each passenger.
NMR fans distributed sweets to the passengers at the railway station here in Coonoor when the summer special arrived on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, K. Natarajan, president of the Heritage Steam Chariot Trust, an organization of NMR fans, urged that summer special, which now runs between Mettupalayam-Coonoor sector of the NMR, be extended up to Ooty.
