Indian Railways' Aman Lodge – Matheran services giving a boost to tourism in Maharashtra

Indian Railways' Central Railway zone with its shuttle services for passengers between Aman Lodge and Matheran has been instrumental in popularizing Matheran as a major tourist destination. Matheran is the nearest and the most popular tourist destination for the citizens of Mumbai, no wonder that in course of the covid unlock period tourists are flocking to relax in its natural environment. Central Railway has transported 53,679 passengers and 5,864 packages since it resumed operation in this section with 4 shuttle services on 04 November last year. Due to a steady increase in the number of tourists to this destination, services were gradually increased from 4 to 8 from14 November 2020, to 12 from 18 November 2020 and added a couple of more services making it a total of 14 services till date between Aman Lodge and Matheran. A senior railway official of Central Railway said,"These services, in addition to providing a comfortable journey to tourists, helping cheap and quick transportation of materials also. This has resulted in enhancing the railway earnings by Rs.34,15,582 during the period from November-2020 to till date." "These figures indicate the important role of Railways in providing a safe and comfortable travel to its passengers coming to this tourist destination, thereby providing livelihood to the locals thus contributing in improving the economy of Matheran," according to a statement by the Central Railway.