The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will get three diesel locos, and for the first time, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will make them for the toy trains at its workshop in New Bongaigaon, Assam.

The new locos, NFR sources said, would be commissioned by next year.

A railway official said a proposal from the Maligaon, the headquarters of NFR in Assam, was sent to the Railway Board for necessary approval for making at least three new diesel engines.

“The board has approved the proposal and soon, NFR will get the final nod. A sum of Rs 6 crore would be spent to make each loco. We expect the locos will be ready by next year and be introduced on the DHR tracks,” said Priyanshu, the director of the DHR.

Sources said a similar initiative was taken last year to upgrade the toy train railway service and it was decided to start making new diesel engines at the century-old railway workshop of the DHR located in Tindharia near Kurseong.

“However, considering the infrastructure at the workshop in New Bongaigaon is vaster, the project was shifted there,” said a source.

As of now, six diesel locos are operational in DHR. The NDM6 diesel locos were built by San Engineering, a Bangalore-based company. It took three years to build the engines. They were introduced in the mountain railway services in 2000, mainly to run the regular toy train service between Darjeeling and New Jalpaiguri.

“Apart from diesel locos, 13 steam locos of DHR are also operational which are used for the 12km Joy Ride service between Darjeeling and Ghoom. It is the most popular short-distance service of the DHR,” an official said.

With three new diesel locos, DHR officials feel they can introduce additional services of the hill train from next year.

“Once the new engines start operating, we can think of meeting the demand of locals and tourists to introduce additional services so that more people can enjoy the toy train rides,” said the DHR director.

The DHR was inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List in 1999.