Ever since the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), wherein the hill train, popularly called ‘toy-train’, chugs along the scenic and one of the renowned mountain train routes in the world, became a world heritage site in 2005, it has turned out to be a major crowd-puller and runs packed almost every day.
In the past, basic infrastructure facilities were lacking in the major railways stations at Mettupalayam and at the foothills of Nilgiris, Coonoor and Ooty along the NMR. But, things have started changing for the better now.
The very look of these heritage railway stations would reveal that they have started receiving the modern touch in the form of tiled platforms, water facilities and improved toilet facilities with renovated buildings.
But, there are flaws. For example, the new toilet at Ooty railway station stinks with overflowing drainage. The waiting rooms were locked even on Sunday afternoon when this correspondent visited the station. There are not enough staff to control passengers quarrelling to occupy seats in the coaches.
Bags and bags of decorative plant materials loaded on to the passenger platform irks passengers, especially those waiting in queue for a long time to board the unreserved coaches. Stray animals that gain entry into the stations prove that cleanliness needs to be improved. The restaurant at Mettupalayam is quite good, while service in the one at Ooty needs improvement and the Coonoor restaurants needs to be expanded.
Pointing out that sufficient chairs are not available for passengers at the station, Mr S. Anantha Krishnan, committee member of the Coonoor citizens’ forum, said the railway stations in Coonoor, Ooty and Mettuplayam, though given a facelift with ATM facilities, still lack cleanliness.
“Water facilities must be improved further and steps taken to provide hot water as those in the hills prefer hot water in the cold weather. Also, sophisticated water filter equipment should be made available in all the stations.”
Mr Mrinal Battacharjee, a tourist from Bengaluru, said the small railway stations along the NMR look pretty, but with increasing number of tourists, there should be more retiring rooms.
Stating that waiting rooms in Ooty and Coonoor stations are available only for first-class passengers, Mr Battacharjee said in waiting rooms heater and TV facilities should be provided in these cold places. Facilities are provided for drinking water, but the question is hygiene.
“The government should see that the heritage structures in the stations are preserved, but that they have modern facilities,” he suggested.
Heritage stations lag behind for want of modern facilities
Hill train aficionados want more facilities to meet the requirements of tourists, and modernised coaches with toilet facilities to suit modern-day train travel.
Saying that a tourism information centre is a must in Nilgiri Mountain Railway stations, Mr Gajendra Jain, a tourist from Jaipur, said this will help passengers get first-hand information about the hills and lodging facilities. Railways should open shops to sell hill products like tea, eucalyptus oil at a nominal price for the benefit of tourists.
Further, fruit stall facilities are lacking in Ooty and Coonoor stations, Mr Jain said, and suggested that railways should run tourist taxis and autos to see that travellers are not fleeced. Water facilities should be enhanced with washrooms of international standard in the stations as NMR has become a world renowned railway, he pointed out.
Mr K. Natarajan, president of the heritage steam chariot trust, an organisation of NMR-lovers, said the time has come to build modern coaches with toilet facilities as NMR travellers undertake a time-consuming journey in the racked section between Coonoor and Mettupalayam without break or facilities to answer nature’s call.
The railways should re-open some of the closed railway stations between Coonoor and Mettupalayam to see that trains stop at these stations, with a recovery locomotive to help the hill train during emergencies. There were proposals in the past to build more retiring rooms in the Ooty railway station yard for economy class travellers. This should be taken up immediately, he added.
Hailing the good parking facilities now in Mettupalayam station, Mr Natarajan said railways should consider opening medical shops in NMR stations to help tourists. Water facilities in Mettupalayam station are good now, but they need to be improved to ensure that passengers get clean, filtered drinking water round-the-clock. He lauded the role of the railway police in regulating the crowd and queue for the hill trains.
A Canadian tourist, who did not wish to be named, said there should be translation facilities in the stations to tell foreigners which coach they should board and where they should sit.
Funds hurdle delays progress of NMR
Lack of sufficient funds still seems to be a big hurdle for the maintenance of NMR. Though the officials in the NMR in Nilgiris chose to be tight-lipped on the issues, sources in the railway said around 300 people were allotted to maintain the NMR line but now it has come down to around 100.
Saying that though the NMR with steam locomotives has become a major tourist attraction, the NMR is still running on losses and more funds needed to be pumped in to bring about an all round modernisation at the NMR stations together with modernised coaches, the sources maintained.
However, the officials said that the number of foreigner tourists travelling on the NMR has increased nowadays and for them the absence of facilities to load their baggage in the small NMR coaches is quite a problem.
