Kalka-Shimla Railway: A world heritage site
The Kalka-Shimla rail journey can be counted among the most unforgettable rail experiences. Construction of the Delhi-Ambala-Kalka section commenced in 1890 by the Delhi Umballa Kalka Railway Company (DUK) and the complete section was opened on March 1, 1891. The management of the line was given to the East India Railway. With the extension of the railway line till Kalka, a need was felt for extending it till Shimla, the then summer capital of British India. Shimla had been declared the summer capital of British India in 1864, during the viceroyalty of John Lawrence. DUK commenced construction in 1901 for a two-feet gauge railway. However, it was later changed to two-and-a-half feet gauge. Two years later, the Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR) was opened for traffic on November 9, 1903. In 1906, because of a serious financial crisis faced by DUK, KSR was taken over by the government. On April 1, 1926, the entire Shimla-Delhi section of 360 km was purchased by the Indian government and transferred to the state-managed North Western Railway. After Partition, this section became a part of the Eastern Punjab Railway before being finally taken over by the newly formed Northern Railway on April 14, 1952.

The hill journey commences from Kalka situated at 2,143 feet above mean sea-level and climbs all the way to Shimla at 6,808 feet through 18 intermediate stations. The train passes through 919 curves in its entire journey, the sharpest being curve no-48.

In its early years KSR had 107 tunnels. Some of these later got defunct and at the time of renumbering, in the 1930s, the number of tunnels came to 103. Tunnel number 46 exists no more, so KSR today has 102 tunnels, which cover roughly eight per cent of its tracks. Just after the Koti station, train enters tunnel no-10. Popularly called Koti tunnel, at 2,276 feet, this is the second longest tunnel on KSR.

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