Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Hi, this is my first post so I hope I have got the right end of the stick... I can't find all the information that I need on this subject anywhere else.

It seems to have been pretty much confirmed that the DHR is closed until Kurseong. I would just like to know if anybody has managed to take the part of the toy train that is still open between Kurseong and Darjeeling?? Plus, what is the best way to get to/from Kurseong if I am on a budget? How much should it cost?

Thanks!!

A shared jeep or local bus would be the cheapest. The fare is too insignificant to matter really. Perhaps not even Rs 50.

Meanwhile, here is a good resource on the railway. They keep uptodate information on the running of the train.

http://www.dhrs.org/

I have only been from Darj to Ghum for a joy ride. You have to book it way in advance during the peak tourist seasons.

The share jeep may be up to Rs100 per person, it's just a guess as it's Rs140 to Darjeeling.

I was in Darjeeling in Feb and saw that the trains were running to Kurseong.

When is the peak season? I plan to travel to darjeeling 6th December to 12th December.

Thanks
Vanitha

I wonder how the recent earthquake and landslides are affecting the DHR!
.

Peak season is really the month of October and last week of December. If there is a snowfall you get lots of quick visitors from the plains. 6th to 12th is not really peak season but not very desolate either. Off season for Darjeeling really is monsoon.
Suricate - I don't really think the earthquake had much of an impact on life in Darjeeling. Monsoon would have done a lot more harm than the quake, per se. But Bengali tourists are scared and have cancelled a lot of their bookings. But when were Bengalis really known for being very courageous ??

The DHR has been hit badly. There was a massive landslide in 2010 which broke the line between Tindharia and Kurseong. This has still not been repaired and there was a further landslide just below Tindharia in September 2011.

One train per day runs each way between between Darjeeling and Kurseong and there are steam hauled joy trains between Darjeeling and Ghum.

As mentioned by Calcuttan the best place to find the latest news about the DHR is

http://www.dhrs.org/

in case any one is interested, below is a darjeeling railway video that I took last december. it's 14 minutes long and covers full route.
http://youtu.be/QFtfrifbzwQ

hope it helps those who would like know how it feels to be on this train.

The peak season are the summer's from March-May.These are the off-peak season when you will be traveling.
al da best

well, I will add oct and nov also to the peak months. 1st week of dec , as per my experience, was also not bad.

chandanprakash2002 - I have just watched your video and greatly enjoyed it. I particularly liked the excellent views of the Himalayas in your early shots. We were up in Darjeeling in March 2011 and only got one very brief glimpse of the mountains.

I also made a video including the lower stretches of the railway. If you are interested in watching it there is a link on this post. Train Talk (Chai & Choo Choos)

Really nice videos which capture the atmosphere of the train route well. Thanks I enjoyed watching these. Can't wait until January when I should be visiting Darjeeling again

dear,
I was talking about the summer's and yes Oct-Nov are peak season's.

were you able to capture the video of the sunrise from tiger hill ??

Another link to the Chai and Choo-choo thread if you want to know something about Marlon Brando's connection with the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. And of course he played opposite Vivien Leigh in "A Streetcar Named Desire".