After being damaged by the destructive monsoon that hit Himachal pradesh earlier this month, the over 120-year-old Kalka-Shimla Railway (KSR) will be opened in three phases starting with the Kalka-Koti section on September 10, as per a report by The Times of India.
Ambala divisional railway manager (DRM) Mandeep Singh Bhatia has said that the opening of the Kalka-Koti section will be followed by the Koti-Solan opening on September 20 and the Solan-Shimla section opening by September 30. He added that the route would be restored only if there is no more damage caused by rain. The monsoon caused a lot of damage to this heritage section and several tracks and railway stations sustained severe damage, Bhatia said.
Monsoon hits Kalka-Shimla Railway
Due to the heavy monsoon that hit the region, the section of this railway between the Jutogh and Summer Hill stations had been washed away. This was the second major blow to the iconic railway within months, The Indian Express had reported. On July 8, due to the “unscientific” lying of drainage pipes under the Kalka-Shimla national highway, the railway saw piles of mud, boulders and trees fall on the track at 135 places, Railway officials had reportedly claimed.
In July, the railway had floated a tender worth Rs 6.15 crore for repairing this world heritage railway line after it sustained severe damage due to the heavy rainfall and landslides.
The 96-kilomtere-long railway line was built in the mid-19th century for servicing the town of Shimla, which at the time was the summer residence of the colonial government. It passes through Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
The line earlier had 107 tunnels, however, due to the landslides in the regions around it, the number of tunnels has been reduced to 102. The total length of the tunnels represents about 8% of the Kalka-Shimla railway line’s length.