Things you need to know about Kalka-Shimla railway

There are many things you know about the kalka shimla railway line but some of the following are generally unkonwn to large population of himachal pradesh and India.

1) Kalka Shimla Railway, one of the very few heritage Railways in the world, as recognized by UNESCO, offers special trains and coaches besides the regular train service between Kalka & Shimla.But not many of us know that besides being stated as world heritage it was at the time of its completion featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometers. More than two-thirds of the track is curved, sometimes at angles as sharp as 48 degrees.

                                                    

2)Even as the world has moved into the computer age, ancient systems still work here. Ancient communication and track control system, called Neals Token Instrument System, is still in use on this rail section. Block phones are also used to establish links between two stations. Lanterns, like the ones used in the last century, are still being used to signal the trains to stop or move.

3) Most of the 102 tunnels (the 1930’s renumbering, with numbers going up to 103, has not been changed till date though tunnel number 46 does not exist any more) too have a history of their own. An interesting feature about these tunnels is that till today, whenever these tunnels have to be illuminated for maintenance, plain mirrors are used to catch the sunlight and reflect this light inside the tunnel.

4)  The longest tunnel is at Barog. Engineer Colonel Barog dug the tunnel from both ends and could not align them and was symbolically fined one rupee. He couldn't live with the shame and committed suicide inside the incomplete tunnel.Chief Engineer H.S. Herlington later completed the tunnel with help from Bhalku, a local sadhu.
5) This railway line has been shown on world televisions several times The BBC made a series of three documentaries about Indian Hill Railways. The Kalka–Shimla Railway was the subject of the third program.The Kalka-Shimla railway was also featured in the Punjab episode of CNN's Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

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