It is a case of better late than never, yet with a happy ending. Faced with the prospect of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway losing its Unesco World Heritage status, the parent organisation (the Northeast Frontier Railway) has entered into an arrangement under which the public sector Heavy Engineering Corporation will manufacture components necessary to revive the fleet of vintage steam engines that have traditionally hauled the quaint train from the plains to the hills. In recent years most of the steam locomotives acquired from the UK between 1927 and 1982 had fallen into disuse, replaced by diesel engines, and the grand old “Puffer Billys” made only limited trips to cater to tourists and “steam buffs”. The switch to diesel traction is what incurred the displeasure of the conservationists, hence the caution that the “heritage tag” would be withdrawn: which might have had a negative fall-out on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka-Shimla line.

One early “result” could be an end to the Darjeeling Railway’s practice ~ albeit born out of necessity ~ to cannibalise its locos, taking parts from one and using them to keep another running. While that “survival” technique paid off in the short-term (in itself an unsung technical achievement) the dwindling number of “spares” that could be mustered took its toll: and as is now evident so too did the switch to diesel traction. It remains a pertinent question as to why it required a “threat” to get the railway to explore the possibility of spares being produced on a medium-long term basis. Hopefully that belated wisdom, and HEC, will “come up with the goods”. Apart from the hill lines which have attained heritage status, there are a dwindling number of other narrow-gauge systems which could be brought back on steam if the experiment succeeds.

The romantic will be thrilled at the prospects of five years from now the loco-shed at Tindharia regaining some of its glory of yesteryear. However, preserving the DHR will require more than steam traction. Many of the carriages too need refurbishment, or new ones constructed on the same pattern as the “originals”. The maintenance of the track needs special attention, measures to avert the landslides that have crippled the system in recent times are imperative.

A revival of freight trains would also be welcome, the Hill Cart Road cannot sustain heavy truck traffic. Since the Indian Railways now have a supposedly dynamic minister on the footplate, maybe he could be persuaded to look beyond bullet trains and create a specialised organization for the preservation, maintenance, and operation of the famous hill railways. That may not bring the kind of votes on which the Modi-Shah duo thrives, but it would confirm that political power does not necessarily relegate tradition and history to irrelevance.