Herbal fly trap bags on Kalka-Shimla rail track

How scenic might be the terrain of Himachal Pradesh through which trains pass, there are still flies to irritate the traveller. The railways have found a way out of the problem.

"We have installed herbal flycatchers at all the railway stations on the 96 km Kalka-Shimla route," said Praveen Kumar, Shimla railway station master.

"Each flycatcher can trap around 70,000 flies. They contain an aromatic herb that attracts the flies and immediately traps them inside the plastic nets," Kumar told Business Standard.

"The cost of each trap is Rs 80 and must be replaced every two months," he said.

"In the past we have been spraying chemicals to kill flies at railways stations but these can lead to environmental hazards. So we switched to these environment-friendly methods," he added.

Officials say the Indian railways in they first phase are installing flycatchers in about 700 railway stations across the country. The over-a-century-old Kalka-Shimla 96 km (60 miles) long narrow gauge track--from Kalka at the edge of the plains to Shimla--is considered an engineering marvel, attracting visitors from the around the world.

It rises from a heaight of 650 metres (2,145 feet) above the sea level to 2,100 metres (almost 7000 feet).

Listed in the "Guinness Railway Book" as "an engineering feat", the track passes through 103 tunnels, 969 bridges, and 18 railway stations. The longest tunnel is over one km.