PLAGUED BY PROBLEMS: The Nilgiri Passenger leaving Udhagamandalam for Mettupalayam on Tuesday.

Udhagamandalam: With a year gone by since the renowned Nilgiri Mountain Railway, between Udhagamandalam and Mettupalayam, was granted the coveted World Heritage Site status by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) a question still asked is, has it made any difference?

Though many had hoped the Southern Railway and the State Tourism Department would use this recognition to lift the image of the NMR and increase the flow of tourists, such measures have hitherto remained absent .

On the contrary the NMR has, of late, been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Over the past few weeks, passengers (mostly tourists) have often been stranded between stations due to technical problems. However, enquiries made by The Hindu revealed that the main reason for this disruption was the use of low quality coal to fuel the engines. Since they were reduced to ash very fast, the drivers ran out of stock before the train reached its destination. Consequently, the tourists who had travelled long distances to experience the thrill of the journey on the toy train, had to complete their trip in buses arranged by the railways.

Railway sources, however, said the problem was likely to continue till this present stock of coal was utilised and fresh stocks arrived. Stating that apart from the quality, the rain also affected the efficacy of the coal, they said switching over to furnace oil would tackle the problem to a significant extent. Out of the seven engines, one was running on furnace oil. While this conversion should be done as early as possible, new engines should be purchased before matters reached a point of no return. Adverting to the sorry state of affairs, some of the tourists who were forced to cut short their journey said while on the one hand it was a great disappointment, on the other hand the journey by bus was a nightmarish experience due to the deplorable condition of the Mettupalayam-Coonoor highway. "Our holiday turned sour even before we reached Ooty," they lamented.

Railway enthusiasts said the lack of efforts to maintain the NMR properly was a source of concern. The attitude of the authorities concerned in allowing the first anniversary of the line being declared a World Heritage Site to pass by unnoticed was akin to adding insult to injury. Pointing out that there were several shortcomings, they hoped the railways would make a study and set right the matters.

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