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Kalka Shimla Railway
This is the railway line that connects Kalka (in Haryana) and Shimla (in Himachal Pradesh). The route on which this line operates is on the mountains and is very complex in nature. The prestigious organisation of UNESCO conducted many reviews on this line right from September 2007 and finally declared it as a World Heritage site during July 2008. This narrow gauge railway line continues to be a major attraction for tourists coming to Shimla as it offers some scintillating natural beauty. Due to the extremely challenging route, the train on this route runs quite slowly, which proves to be quite advantageous for the tourists as they are treated to natural extravaganza. This is one of the most scenic routes in the country and due to excessive maintenance costs, the tariffs on this line are higher than the rates in the other mountain railways sections.
History
Shimla was the original summer retreat of India. The British rulers set up bungalows here to rest during the summer seasons. This was during the 18th century. The only hitch was that Shimla was not well connected to the other places. A village cart was the only means of transport for going to Shimla. In order to change this scenario, during 1898, Delhi-Ambala-Kalka Railway Company established the Kalka Shimla Railway narrow gauge line of 610 mm. It was open for operations during 9th November 1903 after the line was completed at a staggering cost of 86,78,500 INR. It was inaugurated by the then Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. However, even after charging higher tariffs, the maintenance costs of this rail line kept on increasing, which resulted in this line being taken over by the Indian Government on 1st January 1906 for close to 2 crores INR. After this, all the lines were changed to 762 mm as per the standard procedures. During 2007, this line was declared as a heritage property by the Himachal Pradesh Government. After the reviews conducted for over a year, UNESCO recognised the Kalka Shimla Railway Line as a World Heritage Site.
Route
When this line was started, there were 107 tunnels all along its route. After a series dismantling and renovations, five were removed. Currently, there are 102 tunnels on this route and the longest of them is the Barog tunnel that has some interesting stories behind its name and formation. Almost all the 20 stations on this route can be found close to bridges, which make one to believe that these were the places where the bridge engineers used to rest after a long day’s work. Starting from Kalka in Haryana, this line moves along Taksal, Gumman, Koti, Sonwara, Dharampur, Kumarhatti, Barog, Solan, Salogra, Kandaghat, Shoghi, Taradevi, Totu, Summer Hill and Shimla.
Services
There are three train services that operated in this line. They are Shivalik Deluxe Express, Himalayan Queen and Rail Motor Car.
Time Table
The Shivalik Deluxe Express starts from Kalka at 5.30 AM and reaches Shimla at 10.15 AM. The Himalayan Queen starts from Kalka at 12.10 PM and reaches Shimla at 5.20 PM, though it may take a couple of hours extra too for the train travel as the routes are quite complex. The Rail Motor Car starts from Kalka at 5.10 AM and reaches Shimla at 9.35 AM. Apart from these trains, there are some additional trains during the holiday seasons like the months between April and May, December and January etc.
Cost
The one way fares on Shivalik Deluxe Express, Himalayan Queen and Rail Motor Car are280 INR, 167 INR and 260 INR respectively. Some foreign and domestic tourists also take the package offered by IRCTC for the Shivalik Queen and Palace tourists which costs 2600 INR for one-way.
Reservations
Tickets can be booked for these trains using the IRCTC website. The station code for Kalka is KLK and the one for Shimla is SML. Owing to the huge demand on this line, it is recommended that passengers should plan their trip well in advance as tickets get filled in fast in this sector.
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