From the BBC: The Himalayan tea train that’s running out of steam.
But Banerjee’s latest passion is the decaying Darjeeling Himalayan Railway – a narrow-gauge relic of the Raj that once took Makaibari tea from the Himalayan foothills to the Bengal Plains, from where it was shipped to the mainly lidded teapots of the world.
Built in 1879, the 48 mile (88km) line is now a loss-making anachronism that clings to life through the threads of its history and an aversion to the political bother of closure. [continue]
Such a shame that this is in danger of decaying to such a state that it will be irreparable. It sounds like this is a politically delicate situation but it is such a shame that Rajah Banerjee has been prevented from helping. I suppose it’s oddly comforting to know that political inertia is not just an Australian problem!
Alas: political inertia seems to be everywhere.