Himachal:10 train services hit as heavy rainfall triggers landslides

Shimla and other in parts of Himachal Pradesh saw heavy rainfall on Saturday that led to mudslides and disrupted running of trains between Kalka and Shimla, a railway track designated as a World Heritage site

Ambala:

Heavy rainfall blocked several roads, including a highway, near Theog in Shimla on Saturday. (PTI)

Shimla and other in parts of Himachal Pradesh saw heavy rainfall on Saturday that led to mudslides and disrupted running of trains between Kalka and Shimla, a railway track designated as a World Heritage site.

At least 10 trains were cancelled while the run of four others were cut short due to inclement weather, according to an official communication. Muck blocked the tracks at 23 locations. Operations were resumed at 6:20 pm after the tracks were cleared, said Mandeep Singh Bhatia, divisional railway manager, Ambala.

Due to the heavy downpour, the trial run of the panoramic vistadome narrow-gauge coaches that started this week were also cancelled for the day. The coaches, designed at Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, are being tested at a speed of 22km per hour that would be raised to 28km per hour in the coming days. The increased speed is likely to reduce the travel time between Kalka and Shimla by over an hour.

A landslide was reported near Koti in Solan district, some 80km from Shimla, Bhatia said. “Major disruption happened between Koti and Sonwara. Our teams cleared the track and operations have resumed,” he said.

Toy trains, as they are popularly called, run on the 96km narrow gauge railroad track that was chosen by Unesco as a world heritage site in 2008. The line was built to connect Shimla, the summer capital of India during the British Raj and also the headquarters of the British army, with the Indian rail system.