Bullet Train And Cable Car Resumes At Nandankanan

Bullet Train And Cable Car Resumes At Nandankanan

To mark the end of Wildlife Week, the bullet toy train service in Nandankanan Zoological Park, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, was inaugurated today.

Visitors to the Nandankanan Zoological Park will be able to enjoy riding in the bullet toy train once again after a gap of several years. The bullet toy train will have four bogies with seating capacity for 74 passengers. Of them, two seats will be reserved for differently-abled passengers.

During the toy train ride on a one and half kms track for 20 minutes, passengers will have a close look at Kanjia Lake and enclosures of carnivorous animals.

The toy train project set up at the cost of Rs 3.05 crore was inaugurated by Forest and Environment Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha on the premises of the zoo on the occasion of the State-level 67th wildlife week.

Forest Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh also laid the foundation stone of an aerial ropeway today for the mono cable pulsated aerial ropeway project as well at Nandankanan. Deputy director of the zoo Dr. Sanjit Kumar said a 1.2-km railway track and a station has been constructed with financial assistance from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).

The ropeway project has been targeted to be completed within 18 months. The zoo official said once the ropeway becomes operational, visitors will be able to go to the Botanical Garden situated on the other side of the Kanjia Lake. The ropeway project will be built, operated and maintained by Kolkata-based Damodar Ropeway Infra Limited.

Notably, the ropeway service was stopped in February 2011, while the toy train joyride was halted in 2014. The 620-metre long ropeway was introduced in 1994 to ferry passengers from the zoo to the botanical garden passing over the Kanjia Lake. However, the service was disrupted in October 2010 after 13 tourists were rescued from a cable car hung precariously from the ropeway.

Later the service was resumed in December 2010. But again it was permanently shut down in February 2011 on safety grounds. Since the new bullet toy train engine will run on electricity, there will be no pollution, he added.

The main station will be between the toy train station near the boat ghat at Kanjia Lake and the second near the Botanical Garden. This will facilitate the movement of visitors between the zoo and the Botanical Garden. There will be 12 cabins and each of these can accommodate three persons. The price of the ticket has been fixed at Rs. 95 plus GST.

Apart from Arukha, Jatni MLA Suresh Kumar Routray, Bhubaneswar (north) MLA Sushant Kumar Rout, Additional Principal Chief Secretary Mona Sharma and PCCF and Head of Forest Force Sisir Kumar Ratho also attended the ceremony.