The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will introduce a special evening ride this year-end between New Jalpaiguri and Sukna so that toy train enthusiasts and tourists can enjoy a ride after dusk.

Usually, both in hills and plains, services of the mountain railway — with a Unesco world heritage tag — run during the daytime.

Sources said that the service would be launched on December 23 and continue till December 26. It will be available again from December 30 to January 2.

A ride will cost Rs 1,200. Officials of the DHR said that the new service has been termed as “Christmas Special” joy ride.

“It will be a return trip from NJP to Sukna. This is the first time that a joy ride will be introduced in plains, and that too during the evening hours,” said an official.

So far, joy rides were conducted between Darjeeling and Ghoom stations and are very popular with passengers.

“Every day, the train will depart NJP at 5pm and will reach Sukna (located around 10km from here) at 6.10pm. It will stop there for 20 minutes and passengers can visit the DHR museum or enjoy local cuisine. The train will leave Sukna then and arrive in NJP at 7.30pm,” said a source.

A diesel loco will haul two coaches for this special ride, sources said.

“As tourists have started pouring in the hills and the demand for joy ride tickets is on the rise, we have decided to run four additional joyrides between Darjeeling and Ghoom from December 22 to January 5,” an official said.

As of now, eight joy ride services are operational on the route.

Representatives of the hill railway said that in the current fiscal, the DHR has earned Rs13.45 crore till November 2022, the highest in its history.

“In 2018-19, there were 1.18 lakh passengers, an all-time record. This time, we expect a new record. In this financial year, there have already been 1.10 lakh passengers between April and November,” said an official.