Ooty: Rail bus may revolutionise NMR services

Ooty: The rail bus service may soon become a reality in the famed Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) as the Southern Railways will decide on its operation between Ooty and Coonoor, with the initial trial run conducted on Thursday, proving satisfactory.

The Southern Railway, especially the Salem division, had been showing interest in fully tapping the tourism potential of the NMR.

This was reflected in the summer specials run this year, the introduction of tourist round-trips between Ooty and the proposed premier tourism specials between Coonoor and Mettupalayam.

Now, the Southern Railway is all set to start a rail bus service between Ooty and Coonoor, and its trial run to ascertain its feasibility was held on Thursday.

Stating that the initial trial run held on Thursday was satisfactory, divisional railway manager of the Salem Railway Division, U. Subbarao, said that the trial run was to examine how the rail bus negotiated the curves and bends, crossed tunnels and adapted to the hill track between Ooty and Coonoor.

The initial run proved satisfactory. The railways would conduct a few more trials in the days to come, and then take a call on its induction into the NMR.

“If the final report on its trial is positive in terms of safety and other related measures, then the rail bus, which was brought here from the Western Railway, will be sent to the Golden Rock Workshop, Tiruchy, for necessary facelift work, and inducted into the NMR in the near future,” he explained.