Matheran toy train services resume fully

The toy train services in Matheran resumed fully on Friday coinciding with the Republic Day celebration.

The train climbs up from Neral town to  Matheran, the nearest hill-station  to Mumbai and is ranked Asia's only and among a handful worldwide 'vehicle-free' zone.

The toy train - that covers   a distance of nearly 21 kms - adds up to the tourism importance of Matheran. The services on this route stopped since May 2016 after a couple of derailment incidents. The services were partly resumed on a 3 km stretch between Aman Lodge-Matheran  in October 2017.

Matheran, located in Karjat tehsil of Raigad district, some 100 kms away from Mumbai, is the smallest hill station in India. It is located on the Western Ghats range at an elevation of around 800 m (2,625 feet) above sea level - and it in extremely popular hill station.

The Matheran Hill Railway, a narrow-guage heritage railway, that comes under the network of Central Railway (CR) covers a distance of nearly 21 kms from Neral to Matheran.

During the heavy rains in May 2016, the railway infrastructure suffered damage and the servies were stopped.  In 2005, Neral-Matheran light railway was added in the UNESCO's tentative heritage list.