Tags: West Bengal , Siliguri , Darjeeling Himalayan railway , World heritage

Siliguri (WB): The world heritage Darjeeling Himalayan railway (DHR) would remain suspended for several more days due to landslides in Darjeeling hills.

"The landslides caused serious damage to the narrow gauge track which is hanging in several places. It will take nearly a month to repair the tracks and run the toy train," Director of DHR, Subrata Nath told.

DHR will also skip the 128th anniversary celebration due to suspension of train service following two major landslides in a week on August 16 and 20, he said.

The National Highway authorities have been repairing NH-55, the Hill Cart road, on which major portion of the toy train track was laid. DHR authorities would soon assess the tracks damage and start repairing works.

"Repairing of Hill Cart road would take at least 10 more days. Regular toy train service could be possible after a month," Nath said.

Meanwhile, the toy train has been running between Ghoom and Darjeeling as joy-ride trips but the turn out of passengers was very low.

DHR which was given World Heritage status by Unesco was running the train as a major tourist attraction despite incurring a loss of Rs 10 crore annually.

On August 23, 1881, the toy train first reached Darjeeling.

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