Not chugging along: Matheran toy train derails for the second time in a week

For the second time in a gap of 6 days, the Neral-Matheran toy train carrying more than 100 passenger derailed on Sunday when the driver suddenly applied brakes on noticing cattle crossing the tracks.According to a report by The Times of India, at 7.40 am, the coach next to the locomotive derailed near Aman Lodge station. The passengers escaped without injuries.The train services were later cancelled for the day after the incident.Earlier, on 1 May, the lives of the passengers on-board the toy train were put in jeopardy when a bogie of the toy train derailed.[caption id="attachment_456265" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representation image. Reuters[/caption]“All the passengers jumped down before the bogie could tilt over completely. Luckily, nobody sustained injuries and only a couple of passengers sprained their legs,” Sunil Shinde, a Mumbai resident present at the time of incident was quoted as saying by The Asian Age.Despite it being a life-threatening incident, there wasn't much probe and the 100-year-old train service was restored by the next day.Speaking to The Hindu, a senior railway official had told that the railways made “giant spendings” on the maintenance, operations, and staff salaries of the service which was far more than the revenues earned. “Perhaps, it is time for the service to be taken up either by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation that operates the Deccan Odyssey, or people themselves," he said.On 27 April, the train had experienced another similar incident because of a technical failure. At 12.58 pm at Jhumapatti station, the train began rolling back. It only came to a halt after hitting a buffer, reported Mid-day.According to a Mumbai Mirror report, the operation of the Matheran toy train puts an extra burden of Rs 15 crore annually on Central Railway.The average daily collection is around Rs 85 000, while the spend is Rs 90,000 daily on just fuel and travelling allowances of the staff and other expenses.