Title - Railways withdraws Kalka-Shimla rail car

Solan: The Northern Railway authorities were forced to withdraw the rail car after its wheels wore off following several decades of continuous journey on the UNESCO World Heritage Kalka-Shimla track.Introduced by the British between 1927 and 1930, it was the last rail car running on this track as three others had been discontinued following similar problems.Rail cars, which looked like buses, were preferred by tourists for the almost non-stop journey, with a 10-minute halt at Barog. Other trains, with several halts, were initially used by upper-class travellers.A rail car ticket was priced at Rs 247. The 4-hour-20-minute journey provided travellers a panoramic view of the Shivalik mountain ranges.With virtually no manufacturer supplying spares of old machines, it had become an arduous task for the Railways to maintain and continue running heritage vehicles of the British era.Though efforts to introduce cast wheels had been made earlier, the idea could not materialise as there was no manufacturer. Officials were hopeful of restarting the rail car after repairs as trial runs were under way.Authorities had been battling scarcity of funds for maintenance of the track.Though 10 trains were being run a day, the track had failed to yield any profit with minimal fare and limited passengers.The railway authorities were yet to initiate construction of the Kandaghat railway station, burnt down in June last year. The 2-foot-6-inch narrow gauge was never expanded.The track had 107 tunnels originally. In 1930, those were renumbered and four discarded. In 2006, tunnel 46 was dismantled, leaving the track with 102 tunnels.