Kalka–Shimla Railway

When the British ran India, they ran it in summer from Shimla — a town perched on a Himalayan ridge at over 2,000 metres, blessedly cool while the plains baked. The problem was getting there. The answer, opened in 1903, was one of the most audacious little railways ever built: the Kalka–Shimla Railway.

In under 100 kilometres of two-foot-six narrow gauge it hauls itself almost 1,500 metres up into the hills — and it does so the spectacular way, through 102 tunnels, over nearly a thousand arched bridges, and around a barely-believable 917 curves. Another of India's "toy trains", it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the ride is a slow, swaying, five-hour delight of pine forest, hill stations and endless mountain views.

At the top waits Shimla itself, still wearing its Raj inheritance of mock-Tudor villas, a churchyard and the long promenade of the Mall — the perfect, faintly surreal reward for the climb.

The line runs 96.6 kilometres from Kalka, on the northern plains at 656 metres, up to Shimla at 2,076 — a climb of nearly 1,500 metres that takes around five hours and never once stops twisting.

From Kalka the little train is soon into the foothills, and the engineering begins in earnest. To gain height on such steep, folded terrain, the Victorian builders resorted to sheer persistence: 102 tunnels, 988 bridges and viaducts, and 917 curves — some so sharp you can lean out and photograph your own carriages swinging round ahead. Many of the bridges are extraordinary in their own right: tiered galleries of stone arches stacked like Roman aqueducts across the ravines.

Near the halfway point comes Barog, beside the line's longest bore — the 1,143-metre Barog tunnel — with its own melancholy legend of the engineer who gave it his name. Beyond it the country softens into the deodar-forested hills of Himachal, past the hill stations of Solan and Kandaghat, before the final climb along the ridge into Shimla.

It is not a fast way to travel — but the Kalka–Shimla was never about speed. It was about reaching one of the loveliest spots in the Himalaya in style, and it still is.

The Kalka–Shimla Railway runs year-round, all seven days a week, with about five trains a day in each direction. Kalka is easily reached by broad-gauge train or road from Chandigarh and Delhi, and is the junction where you change onto the narrow gauge for the 96.6 km climb from 656 m to 2,076 m (roughly 4½–6 hours, depending on the train).

Real departures from Kalka (2026 — confirm before travelling): the first is the ordinary passenger at 03:30; a popular working leaves around 06:20 (~5½ h); and the last, the Himalayan Queen, departs 12:10. Between them run the premium reserved trains:

Tips:

• Book ahead through IRCTC, especially the Shivalik Deluxe and the summer (April–June) and autumn high seasons, when Shimla is busy.
• Best views are generally on the valley side; the morning light is loveliest.
• The ordinary passenger, stopping at every little station, is the most atmospheric — and the cheapest.

Times as of the 2026 timetable. Confirm current schedules with the operator — see the Tickets section below.

Tickets are sold by Indian Railways through IRCTC and at the stations. Fares are very reasonable by world standards, and the premium services are still a bargain — so the thing to manage is availability, not cost.

The main choices:

• Shivalik Deluxe — the premium reserved train: fewer stops, better seats, a meal, and the shortest journey time. The one to book if you want comfort.
• Reserved seat on an express (such as the Himalayan Queen) — a good middle option.
• The ordinary toy train — cheapest and most characterful, calling at every hill station on the way up.
• Vistadome cars — where offered, glass-roofed carriages for uninterrupted views.

Tips:

• Reserve in advance on IRCTC; the Shivalik Deluxe and summer departures sell out.
• Combine with the mainline — take a broad-gauge train to Kalka and change onto the narrow gauge there.
• Which way? The uphill run (Kalka → Shimla) builds the drama; downhill is faster and easier on the timetable.

Shimla and the surrounding hills of Himachal Pradesh reward a stay of several days on top of the ride. The town runs along a single high ridge at just over 2,000 m, and almost everything worth seeing is either strung along that ridge or a short drive off it.

On the line itself, Solan and Kandaghat are pleasant places to break the climb — small hill towns with a slower pace than Shimla and hotels that cost a fraction as much.

Nothing in Shimla is flat. The Mall and the Ridge sit at the top of the town and everything else drops away beneath them in a tangle of stepped lanes, so allow considerably more time than the map distances suggest, and expect to arrive everywhere slightly out of breath.

Shimla is the natural base, and it offers everything from Raj-era grandeur to simple guesthouses — give yourself a couple of nights to enjoy the hill-station air.

• Heritage hotels — Shimla's colonial-era hotels, all wood panelling and mountain views, are an experience in themselves; several sit right by the Mall and the Ridge.
• The Oberoi Cecil / Wildflower Hall — for a splurge, the grand old Cecil in town or the palatial Wildflower Hall out at Chharabra, once Lord Kitchener's residence, set among cedar forest.
• Town guesthouses & homestays — plentiful, friendly and good value on the ridges and lanes below the Mall.
• On the line — a night in a quieter hill town like Solan, Kandaghat or Chail makes a peaceful alternative and lets you ride the railway in two easy halves.

Book well ahead for the April–June summer season and the autumn holidays, when Shimla fills with visitors escaping the heat of the plains.