Recently the Meghalaya government will explore the idea of introducing a toy train in the state. Disclosing this, Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh told on Monday that everything depends on feasibility. Actually he said no feasibility exercise has been carried out. He also said that the more important thing is that the Shillong Ropeway project is finally taking off. In fact it will be a great leap to take Meghalaya tourism forward. He also said the government will conduct a cost-benefit analysis and feasibility exercise on the toy train idea. Actually the introduction of toy trains is expected to boost the state’s tourism sector further. However, it all depends on the stand of the pressure groups. While a majority of the ministers favour the introduction of railways but the pressure groups stand opposed to it due to fear over the possible influx of illegal immigrants. In reality they want the government to first put in place a mechanism to check influx before introducing railways. Recently, an official of the Northeast Frontier Railway had also stated that it would be wonderful if toy trains are introduced in Meghalaya.
In reality the official also said that laying a track for toy trains till Shillong would be feasible as the city is situated at a much lower elevation of 1,525 meters. If you see Darjeeling, the only hill station in the region to have toy trains, is located at an elevation of 2,045 metres. Arunachal government is said to be considering introducing a toy train till the picturesque India-China border town of Tawang.
