The Central Railway’s (CR) Matheran-Aman Lodge shuttle service, popularly known as the toy train, had an encouraging start to 2022 amid the third coronavirus wave with total earnings of 19.26 lakh in the month of January. This included passenger earnings of Rs 19.03 lakh from 32,128 passengers and parcel earnings of Rs 21,582 from 2,843 packages.
From January 2021 to January 2022, the CR ferried 3,13,664 passengers and transported 44,779 parcel/goods packages through a total of 16 services on weekdays and 20 weekend services between Aman Lodge and Matheran.
This enhanced the railway earnings by Rs 1.93 crore in this period, with passenger earnings of Rs 1.89 crore and parcel earnings of Rs 3.59 lakh. The month of November 2021 topped the earnings’ chart with total passenger and parcel earnings of Rs 27.86 lakh, closely followed by December 2021, with total earnings of Rs 27.37 lakh Over 5,000 locals from and around Matheran depend on the toy train service to make a living. It’s an important mode of transport for locals here as Matheran roads are not motorable after a certain point.
CR officials said that the shuttle service has been instrumental in not just popularising this place as a major tourist destination but also for bringing people closer to nature. Hoteliers in the area, for instance Chandrakant Chowdhari, said that tourism is the main source of income for locals here and the toy train is one of the main attractions.
Former Nagaradhyaksha (chairman of Matheran Municipal Council) Manoj Khedekar said the service is the lifeline of the tourism-dominated economy of Matheran.
