Get a panoramic view of the hills on Neral-matheran journey
MUMBAI: Big windows, glass roof and LED lights — the toy train journey from Neral to Matheran is set to offer a more scenic view of the winding, hilly terrain with the railways planning to attach a vista dome coach to the heritage rake from Februaryend.
Union railway minister Piyush Goyal on Friday reviewed the vista dome coach for the toy train to Matheran, which is situated 100kms from Mumbai.
Sunil Udasi, chief spokesperson of central railway (CR) said the glass-roofed coach has been manufactured at the Kurduwadi workshop. “The coach is being given final touches. Before being put into service, it will be displayed at Neral station for public view,” Udasi said.
According to CR officials, Goyal was happy to see the progress in the manufacturing of the coach and directed that it be inducted into service by the month-end.
The fare for the coach is yet to be decided. CR officials also said the vista dome coach will have a doublelayer glass roof and windows wider than regular coaches.
The roof will also have adjustable curtains. Backsliding chairs, air-conditioning, LED lights and woodpatterned vinyl flooring will be some of the other features of the coach.
This will be the second vista dome coach on CR and the first such narrow gauge coach on the zonal railway. Earlier, vista dome coaches were attached to the Mumbai-madgaon Jan Shatabdi Express, which gained popularity among tourists travelling to Goa.
Last year, the CR introduced an AC coach on the century-old Neral-matheran toy train.
The train, which is on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) tentative world heritage list since 2003, is one of the major tourist attractions for tourists visiting Matheran. To make the 21-km route safer, the Central Railway has undertaken several safety works in the recent past.