Kalka–Shimla Railway

102 tunnels and 864 bridges to the Raj’s summer capital: a UNESCO line where the guard still waves flags.

Laid out so the colonial administration could haul itself to the hills each summer, the 762 mm line winds from 656 m at Kalka to 2,076 m on Shimla’s cedar ridge. The longest bore, Barog tunnel, carries the ghost story of the engineer whose two headings famously failed to meet, while the tiered stone gallery viaducts nearby could pass for Roman aqueducts. Ride the little Rail Motor with its glass front and the five-and-a-half-hour climb becomes the whole point of the trip.

Along the way

• Koti gallery viaducts
• Barog tunnel
• Solan — brewery town of the hills
• Tara Devi ridge curve
• Shimla at 2,076 m

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 331109 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 38 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 13 m from it
• The operator publishes this line's timetable: Indian Railways — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the Kalka–Shimla Railway?

The Kalka–Shimla Railway runs 96 km from Kalka to Shimla.

How long does the Kalka–Shimla Railway take?

The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 5 h 30 min for the 96 km. That is an average of 17 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 25 km/h.

Who runs the Kalka–Shimla Railway?

Indian Railways, with Rail motor, Himalayan Queen.

How old is the Kalka–Shimla Railway?

The line has been in service since 1903. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How high does the Kalka–Shimla Railway climb?

2,076 m above sea level at its highest point.

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