Central Railway’s Matheran- Aman Lodge shuttle services ferries 3.14 lakh passengers in last 13 months from Jan-2021 to Jan- 2022, which worked like booster dose for economy of Matheran.
Over 5,000 locals from and around Matheran depend on the toy train service to make their living.The toy train is an important mode of transport for locals as the roads in Matheran are not motorable after a certain point.
Central Railway with its shuttle services for passengers between Aman Lodge and Matheran has been instrumental in popularizing this place as a major tourist destination.
Central Railway has ferried 3,13,664 passengers and transported 44,779 parcel/goods packages during the period January -2021 to January-2022 with a total of 16 services on weekdays and 20 services on weekends between Aman Lodge and Matheran.
These services, in addition to providing a comfortable journey to tourists, help in cheap and quick transportation of materials also. This has resulted in enhancing the railway earnings by Rs.1.93 crore during the period from January -2021 to January-2022. This includes passenger earnings of Rs.1.89 crore and parcel earnings of Rs.3.59 lakh.
The month of November-2021 tops the chart with total passenger and parcel earnings of Rs.27.86 lakh closely followed by December-2021 with total passenger and parcel earnings of Rs.27.37 lakh
The year 2022 has started with encouraging total earnings of 19.26 lakh in the month of January-2022. This includes passenger earnings of Rs.19.03 lakh from 32,128 passengers and parcel earnings of Rs.21,582/- from 2843 packages.
These figures indicate the important role of Railways in providing a safe and comfortable travel to its passengers coming to this tourist destination.
"Central Railway with its shuttle services for passengers between Aman Lodge and Matheran has been instrumental in popularizing this place not only as a major tourist destination but also as a place which takes one close to Nature. It provides the thrill of watching Nature closely along with a memorable ride in the Toy train thus immersing oneself in the serenity of the natural environment of Matheran" said Shivaji Sutar, Chief public relation officer of CR.
Similarly local residents also praise the rake of toy train in the economy of Matheran , nearest and the most popular tourist destination for the citizens of Mumbai, no wonder that in course of the COVID-19 unlock period tourists are flocking to relax in its natural environment , toy trains are adding extra flavor on their trips.
"Tourism is the main source of income for the locals and toy trains is one of the main attractions" said Chandrakant Chowdhari, a proprietor of a Hotel in Matheran.
Similarly, former 'Nagaradhyaksha' ( former Chairman of Matheran Municipal Council) Manoj Khedekar said "Toy train service is the lifeline of the tourism-dominated economy of Matheran".
