Severe rainfall and flooding impact renowned Kalka-Shimla heritage railway route.

A surprising twist in the story happened when heavy floods affected the beautiful train route in Shimla. Mr. Bhatia, who works with the railways, shared that the first flood on July 9 and 10 caused a lot of problems - a total of 137 disruptions. But, they managed to fix 110 of them. It seemed like things were getting better after the flood in July, and they were able to get the Solan-Shimla stretch of the route working again. However, they had to close it down once more due to floods on August 14.

Photo Credit: Reuters

The trouble intensified when landslides near the Summer Hill station made a 19-meter-long bridge collapse. This led the Railways to stop the trains on the Solan-Shimla route for safety reasons. Mr. Bhatia gave hope that if there are no more floods, they aim to have the route back in action in the next three to four weeks.

The route, known for its breathtaking views and loved by tourists, boasts 20 stations, 103 tunnels, and 912 curves. It's quite fascinating how the narrow-gauge line starts at a height of 2,152 feet in Kalka and climbs all the way to 4,656 feet in Shimla. Before the incidents in July, seven trains, each with seven coaches, used to run on this route every day. Each train could carry up to 210 passengers, and the journey took around five hours one way.