Kalka–Shimla Railway

The route

The Kalka–Shimla Railway climbs 96 km from Kalka, at the foot of the hills at 656 m, to Shimla at 2,075 m, which the British used as their summer capital. Surveys began in the 1880s, the contract was signed in 1898, and the line was opened by Lord Curzon on 9 November 1903 under chief engineer Herbert Septimus Harington. It was planned as a 2 ft gauge line and was converted to 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) soon afterwards.

To gain 1,419 m with a ruling gradient of 1 in 33, the line twists through more than 900 curves, the sharpest about 37 m in radius. It was built with 107 tunnels, of which 102 are still in use, and well over 900 bridges, among them arched gallery bridges. Costs roughly doubled during construction, and the government bought the railway outright on 1 January 1906.

The line joined UNESCO's Mountain Railways of India World Heritage Site in July 2008, alongside the Darjeeling and Nilgiri railways. Northern Railway's Ambala division runs it today. Trains average about 25–30 km/h on the climb, while the light railcars, like the one in this film, run at around 50–60 km/h.

What to watch for

1. Tokens and British signals

   Watch the stations closely. Most of the line is single track, and at each crossing station the driver collects a token that gives the railcar sole right to the next section. The signals beside the track are of the old British style and still in daily use, so the film shows an operating method that has changed little since the line was built.

2. Kumarhatti, top of the film

   Kumarhatti Dagshai, 1,579 m above sea level, is the highest station in this section. From here the line does not keep rising to Shimla at once: Barog, reached a few minutes later, stands lower. The climb resumes beyond Solan, and the railway still has about 500 m more to gain before it reaches the hill town.

3. Tunnel No. 33 at Barog

   The long dark stretch before Barog is Tunnel No. 33, about 1,144 m long and the longest of the line's working tunnels. At 25 km/h a train needs roughly two and a half minutes to pass through. Local accounts credit a hill man named Bhalku with helping the engineers find their alignments, and the railway museum in Shimla is named after him.

4. Gallery bridges

   Between the tunnels, look for bridges carried on rows of arches rather than a single span. The film's description singles out these gallery bridges, and the line has more than 900 bridges of all kinds. From the front of the railcar the arches are hidden, but the sudden open drop to one side shows where the track leaves the hillside to cross a ravine.

What you will see

The film was recorded on 26 November 2024 from the front of Railcar No. 3 during a Railway Touring Company tour. It begins at Sonwara, 26 km from Kalka, and follows the line along the hillside to Dharampur Himachal, a crossing station in a small town. The driver sounds the horn often for people walking on the track, and the token for each single-line section is handed over at the stations.

Beyond Dharampur the line keeps climbing to Kumarhatti Dagshai, at 1,579 m the highest point of this film. A few minutes later the railcar enters Tunnel No. 33, the longest on the railway at about 1,144 m, and emerges just short of Barog station, which lies lower than Kumarhatti.

From Barog the line runs on to Solan, the district town, whose station has two platforms and four tracks. The railcar then passes Solan Brewery station and finishes at Salogra, almost 53 km from Kalka, with a little under half the distance to Shimla still ahead.

Station by station

1. Dharampur HimachalA small one-platform station in Dharampur town, a little over 32 km from Kalka. Its two tracks let trains cross, and the railcar reaches it about 16 minutes into the film.
2. Kumarhatti DagshaiAt 1,579 m the highest station in this film, beside the national highway. The surrounding hills are a known fossil site, with remains around 20 million years old from the Miocene.
3. BarogReached through Tunnel No. 33, the longest on the line, which ends just on the Kalka side of the platform. Barog grew up while the railway was being built, and trains once paused here for an hour.
4. SolanThe town of Solan, 46 km from Kalka and the largest stop in this section, with two platforms and four tracks. It is the headquarters of Solan district, and the station sits within the town.

Riding it for real

Northern Railway runs several trains each day between Kalka and Shimla, including the Himalayan Queen, the Shivalik Deluxe Express, the Kalka Shimla Express, ordinary passenger trains and a rail motor car with a glass roof.

The trains are slow and the line is popular, especially in holiday seasons, so reserved seats are worth booking well ahead through Indian Railways. Check Northern Railway or Indian Railways for current timetables, fares and any suspensions before you travel.

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