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Journalism of Courage
If Union Railways Minister Nitish Kumar has his way, steam engines could soon be chugging along narrow gauge hill-station routes across the country, like in the days of old.
That, says Kumar, is the main cog in his plan to promote tourism via the country’s vast railway network. Kumar was speaking here at a function held to commemorate the 100th year of the Kalka-Shimla railway link.
The year-long centenary celebrations culminated today in a heritage train run, which was flagged off approximately at 1 pm — an hour late — by the minister from the Shimla Extension railway station.
The restored Pavandoot with a KC-520 steam engine, pulled six carriages at a steady trot towards Kathleeghat station, 24 km away. Among the passengers were Kumar, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, State Governor V.S. Kokje, besides representatives from the media.
The well-known writer-journalist and self-confessed ‘‘steam enthusiast’’, Sir Mark Tully was also among the invitees. ‘‘The Kalka-Shimla line is an engineering marvel. Anyone who travels between Shimla and Kalka by bus or some other mode of transport is missing out. The rail-link is less polluting, and far more comfortable. Besides, the scenery is fantastic,’’ said Tully.
Earlier, during the function, the Railways Minister announced that the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), in association with the Himachal Pradesh government would organise tourism packages.
‘‘Also, the Kalka-Parvanu line will be operational by November next year,’’ he said. Himachal Pradesh will have six new computerised reservation centres, and these would be set up within a month, Kumar promised. The minister also announced the setting up of a new rail museum in Shimla that will be named after Baba Bhalku, who is supposed to have ‘‘visualised’’ the track path over a century ago. Kumar also inaugurated — with a click of a mouse — a website http://www.ksr100.com dedicated to the Kalka-Shimla railway. A commemorative stamp was also released on the occasion.
The first revival steam run took place on the same section on September 29 last year. Since then, according to the engine driver on today’s run, Subhash Arora, the engine has run on the section nearly 10 times.
