Darjeeling’s toy train adds two named joyrides for the Puja season

Correction — 25 September 2026: the timetable, and six new services

We wrote that we could not find a published timetable. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway’s director, Rishav Choudhury, gave one to the Millennium Post on 26 August. Red Panda (steam-hauled, Kurseong–Mahanadi round trip): leaves Kurseong at 9am and Mahanadi at 10am. Mukta Dhara (diesel-hauled, Kurseong–Mahanadi round trip, 16 km there and back): leaves Kurseong at 3.15pm and Mahanadi at 4pm. Four single-trip Darjeeling–Ghum joyrides (diesel-hauled): leave Darjeeling at 9.20am and 11.25am, and Ghum at 10.25am and 12.30pm.

That makes six new services — the two named round trips plus four Darjeeling–Ghum runs — which is also TravelBiz Monitor’s count; ETV Bharat’s figure is the outlier. All the fares are described as proposed: ₹1,530 for Red Panda, ₹1,030 for Mukta Dhara and ₹800 for a Darjeeling–Ghum single journey. Check timings and fares at the station or with the railway before you travel. Our report of 4 September follows unchanged.

The two new rides

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site run by Northeast Frontier Railway, is adding named festival joyrides for the Durga Puja season. Both run between Kurseong and Mahanadi as round trips, and both start on 1 October 2026 and continue to 3 January 2027.

The Red Panda is the steam-hauled one, at ₹1,530. The Muktadhara is diesel-hauled, at ₹1,030. Ordinary joyrides remain ₹800. The names are not decorative: Muktadhara is Rabindranath Tagore’s play, and DHR has identified the waterfall in it as the Paglajhora falls at Kurseong, which the service is meant to showcase. The Red Panda is named for the animal found at Darjeeling’s Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park and at Topkedara.

How many services, and a discrepancy worth knowing

ETV Bharat, reporting on 4 September, says nine joyrides currently operate in the hills and that four more arrive on 1 October — the two festival specials plus two that will run year-round — taking the total to 13 between October and January. TravelBiz Monitor, which carried the story first on 30 August, describes six new services: four single-trip Darjeeling–Ghum runs at ₹800 plus the two Kurseong–Mahanadi round trips.

The two accounts agree on what matters — the two named services, their fares and the 1 October start — but not on how many other services are being added. We have not been able to reconcile that from a Northeast Frontier Railway notice, so treat the total count as unsettled and the two named joyrides as firm. TravelBiz Monitor also described the ₹800 figure as a proposed fare.

A trial run of the Muktadhara is planned for late September at Mahanadi station, timed with the Mahanadi Station Festival, before the regular season begins.

If you are planning around it

This is aimed squarely at the Puja rush, when the Darjeeling hills are at their busiest and DHR seats are the hardest thing in the district to get. The Kurseong–Mahanadi pairing is worth noting on its own: most visitors default to the Darjeeling–Ghum shuttle, and these round trips open a different stretch of the line. If you are travelling in the festival window, book the joyride before you book anything else on the day — and check the schedule locally, since we could not find a published timetable to link to. See our India destination pages for the wider region.

Sources

This report is based on the following published sources. Rules and schedules change — confirm with the issuing authority before you travel.

• Darjeeling Toy Train To Introduce Two Special Festival Joyrides From October 1 — ETV Bharat, 04 September 2026
• Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Adds Six Special Joyrides — TravelBiz Monitor, 30 August 2026
• Ode to the Bard: DHR to launch Mukta Dhara joyride this Puja — Millennium Post (quoting the DHR director), 26 August 2026