The tourists' footfall during the festive season on the Kalka-Shimla passenger train has increased to 100 per cent which was very low owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amar Singh Thakur, chief commercial inspector of the Kalka-Shimla railway said, "During the year 2020, starting from March 2020 to June 2020, trains were completely stopped due to COVID-19. The tourists after June 2020, gradually started arriving after the first wave of COVID-19. Operations of four trains out of 6 trains were resumed last year. Now all trains are functioning and are running to its full capacity."
"The Kalka -Shimla railway section of Indian railways is a source of attraction for tourists across the globe. The Kalka Shimla railway line was declared UNESCO's world heritage line in 2008. It has been a great tourist attraction since then," he said.
One of the tourists, Ravindar Jassal from Punjab who lives in Canada came here. He said, "I live in Canada and I am here in India. I decided to explore the journey of a toy train here in Kalka-Shimla railways. It was a wonderful journey. Earlier we were not able to get an entry to Himachal Pradesh due to COVID-19 restrictions. These restrictions have eased out now."
The Bengali tourists prefer visiting Shimla during the Navratri and Dussehra festivals.
"I am coming from Kolkata, It was a beautiful experience here. I came here for the first time with my husband. We are Bengali and this is our pooja vacation. It was a lifetime experience," said Tithi Nag, a tourist from West Bengal.
( With inputs from ANI )
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