A LONG HAUL THROUGH TIME

THE BACK TRACK
The idea of a railway line to Shimla can be traced back to 1847, when it found a mention in The Delhi Gazette owing to the trend of British residents flocking to the mountains in the summer. In 1870, the Sind Punjab and Delhi Railway opened a 480-km line between Amritsar and Delhi via Ambala, which became the base station for travelling to Shimla, with the route comprising a 61-km run through the plains up to Kalka and traversing another 93 km over the steep gradient of the grand Hindustan-Tibet Road. Kalka, situated on the foothills of the Shivaliks, developed into a busy transit station for the journey uphill.
A favourable investment climate in Britain and support from private companies prompted the Government of India to undertake the construction of a railway line to Shimla. On June 29, 1898 the Secretary of State signed a contract with the Delhi Ambala Kalka Railway Company for a 610-mm line from Kalka to Shimla. Other than providing land free of cost, the government was not obliged to give any pecuniary aid or guarantee to build this line. Later, keeping in mind military requirements, it decided to increase the width of the gauge to 762 mm. The contract was revised on November 15, 1901 and the KSR opened to traffic on November 9, 1903.

A JOURNEY INTO THE CLOUDS
The KSR is a narrow-gauge, single-track railway that connects Kalka, at an elevation of 656 m, in Haryana with Shimla, at 2,075 m, in Himachal Pradesh. About 10 seven-coach passenger trains, in addition to single-coach rail motor cars, operate daily on this route that meanders through dense forests and sleepy hill towns. Travelling at a speed of 25 km per hour, the trains offer breathtaking views of Himalayan peaks and misty valleys. With the fog making its way into the coaches, the journey often seems like a ride on the clouds.
At a minimum fare of Rs 17 for the journey from Kalka to Shimla, the KSR is one of the cheapest railways in the world. 8220;The fare per km works out to be around 17.5 paise,8221; points out a railway official at the Shimla Railway Station. The KSR continues to be one of the most attractive commuting options for the locals, who prefer the rail to the road despite the longer travel time involved.

BRIDGING THE HILLS
The Guiness Book of Rail Facts and Feats calls the KSR the greatest narrow-gauge engineering feat in India. Construction on this section began in 1901 and the line was ready by 1903 despite the harsh terrain, which made tunnelling and building bridges a Herculean task. The KSR has 988 bridges, comprising almost 3 per cent of the total length of the line.
One of the striking features of the railway is the use of multi-arch, gallery-style bridges over the ravines. Says Section Engineer Sandeep Khullar, 8220;The depth of the valley meant that wider bridges were required. Since making wider bridges would have been uneconomical, British engineers decided to go in for multi-tier arch bridges, with the arches taking the weight of the train and transferring it to the pillars.8221;
The 97.4-m-long and 19.3-m-high bridge no. 226 between the Sonwara and Dharampur stations is one of the greatest examples of arch-gallery bridges on the section. Constructed in 1898 with stone and lime mortar, this is the longest such bridge on the KSR, with 32 arches of different spans. 8220;The fact that bridges like these stand tall even a hundred years after they were constructed testifies to the engineering efficacy of their constructors,8221; says a Northern Railways official. Bridges 493 and 541, between Kandaghat and Kanoh, are other examples.

TUNNEL TALES
One of the most fascinating stories about the KSR relates to the construction of a tunnel near Barog. With a length of 1143.61 m, tunnel no. 33 at Barog is the longest tunnel8212;and the straightest stretch8212;on the line. The original plan was to dig a two-km-long tunnel and an engineer named Colonel S. Barog was commissioned for the task. The engineer, after whom the small town is named, began tunnelling from both ends only to find midway that he had made a gross error in calculating the alignment. This lapse attracted a fine of Re 1 from the government. Barog felt so humiliated that he first shot his dog and then himself. Locals believe Barog was buried somewhere near the incomplete tunnel, which can still be seen barely a km from the completed one.
The other story is about Baba Bhalku, a local saint who is believed to have led the British engineering team, marking out the points for laying tracks with a stick. Legend has it that it was with Bhalku8217;s help that Chief Engineer Harrington completed the tunnel in 1903.

PORTAL INTO THE PAST
The small stations on the route maintain Lost Property Registers, some of them a century old. The register at Sonwara station has an entry dated August 12, 1913 about a lost cap. The station at Barog still has antique clocks, locks and keys, date-punching machines and even antique cutlery from the British era. The Shimla railway station is home to the oldest steam engine operating on this line. Manufactured by the North British Locomotive Company, England, at a cost of Rs 30,000 and commissioned in 1906, KC 520 was withdrawn from service in 1971. It was restored in 2001 and is now used for short, chartered journeys. In fact, the entire KSR is a relic whose old world charm and lazy langour make the journey the destination.