Where’s the Kalka-Shimla train headed?

SHIMLA: The railways seems to be paying little heed to the safety of passengers travelling on the century-old Kalka-Shimla rail line — a world heritage site in Himachal Pradesh — despite frequent landslides due to construction along the track.

One person was killed and three people injured on Sunday when a Kalka-Shimla train derailed near Dharampur in Solan. Delhi-based NGO Indian Steam Railway Society (ISRS) has expressed concern over excavation work at different sites along the track, posing a threat to the rail line that Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, opened in 1903.

“The movement of trucks has weakened the embankments along the track at various places,” ISRS executive member PJ Singh said. “Every day a convoy of trucks moves up and down, especially in Kumarhatti and Barog towns. A massive digging exercise has been going on for the past many months.”

ISRS had asked the railways to stop construction activity many times, Singh said. “Even pictures of the construction have been provided to the railways so that the Himachal government could check the unscientific excavation,” he added.

“A structure has come right on top of tunnel number 10 at the Kumarhatti railway station,” Singh said.