Ooty: The 109th anniversary of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), a world heritage site, was celebrated by mountain train enthusiasts as 'NMR Day' here on Sunday, Hill train lovers called for more trips on the racked Coonoor-Mettupalayam sector of the NMR and re-introduction of coal-fired steam locomotives.
The heritage steam chariot Trust (HSCT), an organisation of NMR aficionados, and the Southern Railway jointly organized the celebrations at Ooty railway station to honour the NMR train, fondly known as the toy-train of Ooty, which began its commercial journey from this hill centre on this day in 1908.
K.R. Arjunan, Rajya Sabha member from the hills, led the proceedings, cut the cake and distributed it to passengers when the NMR train from Mettupalayam reached the railway station here shortly after noon.
On behalf of HSCT, he also honoured a couple of senior employees working in the NMR. Dr M. R. Srinivasan, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and R. Ganesh, MLA of Ooty, also took part.
K. Natarajan, founder of HSCT said, "After the NMR joined the list of world heritage sites in 2005, it became more popular amongst tourists. What is needed is that the railways should come forward to re-introduce the coal-powered steam locomotive in the NMR to maintain its heritage status," he demanded.
Mr. Rajeshkumar James, secretary of the Citizens' Forum of Coonoor said that with cyber era technology on hand, the Railways should operate more trips on the racked Coonoor and Mettupalayam sector of the NMR, instead of the present up and down trip in a day.
