Toy Train craze: Taxi operators make a killing

KALKA: Taxi operators are making the most of the swelling tide of tourists wanting to board the Toy Train to Shimla. With Kalka railways authorities struggling to accommodate the ever-increasing numbers on the waiting list, a large number of foreign and domestic tourists are forced to shell out anything between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 for a taxi from Kalka to Shimla.
Every summer heralds a rush of tourists to the hills, and the station is flooded with tourists seeking seats on the Toy Trains. However, even the start of two supplementary trains doesn't appear to be enough. The waiting list keeps increasing by the day.
Kalka railway station superintendent V K Arora said, ''There is a massive rush of tourists going uphill. We are finding it difficult to accommodate passengers without prior booking. Then, they fall back on modes like buses and taxis to take them to Shimla. Foreign tourists feel let down when they discover they have been fleeced by taxi operators.
Steven Taylor, an Australian tourist from Adelaide, said, ''We took the Shatabdi Express from New Delhi to Kalka, hoping we would be able to obtain tickets for the train to Shimla. Finding the train booked and the next one scheduled for Friday, we decided to take a taxi to Shimla. We didn't know that they would charge so much. They claimed that Rs 3,500 was the normal taxi fare to Shimla.'
His travel companion from Brisbane in Australia, Sarah Fischer, said, ''Our friends got a taxi to Shimla for Rs 2,800. When we told the operator that he was asking for too much, he said that it was our choice whether we wanted to hire the cab or not. We finally opted for it as our friends were to leave for Manali on Friday and we wanted to join them for the trip.''