The engineer’s folly and seer’s wisdom – Kalka-Shimla Rail Track

Almost 100 -km-long was inaugurated in 1903. It is an engineering marvel with over 100 operational tunnels and a tribute to railway engineers who achieved the feat of building a railway line through steep tortuous hills in a way that the train seems to wrap itself around the mountains rather than overwhelm them by sheer power. The track was largely built between 1900 and 1903 and is still functional bringing joy to thousands of tourists every year. One of the British Engineer on the project has a town and a tunnel named after him ‘Barog’.

Barog is today a pleasant hill town en route to Shimla on this rail line and being almost first town on significant elevation after leaving plains is fast emerging as a way stop and also a conference venue. The longest tunnel on Kalka Shimla Rail Track is at Barog named after Barog, the British railway engineer. Barog’s attractions include the railway station (one of the most attractive on this track, that served as a lunch stop over  for the train during more leisurely travel times that were a feature of the colonial era). The station still has a classic and stylish dining room.

The over 1 km long tunnel is not the original tunnel and actually had a predecessor. Barog, the engineer in charge of this section during construction started digging the tunnel from both ends of the hill to complete the construction faster. Tragically however, the ends of the tunnel were not perfectly aligned and did not meet due to some mistake in judgment or calculation. The Government were then as they are now. The legend has it that Barog was asked to pay a fine of Rs. 1 by the then Government for wasting government money. The engineer thought this to be a major humiliation and decided to commit ‘Kamikaze’ in order to preserve his pride. In a tragic act of desperation he shot himself in a lonely spot. He is said to be buried near one end of the tunnel, the wrong alignment of which led him to suicide (the actual grave however is not traceable now). The old tunnel now lies abandoned and closed with a gate slightly above the current tunnel. The now functional tunnel was dug afresh under the guidance of the then Chief Engineer of railways H.S. Harrington. However, interestingly this time Harrington depended for alignment on the native wisdom of a local seer from the area named Bhalku.  This tunnel is said to be straightest railway tunnel in the world. The Shima Gazette mentions Bhalku being awarded by the British Government for his help on this and other tunnels on this track.

Barog has interesting places nearby such as Lawrance School at Sanawar (one of the classic boarding schools set up by British in India, Yungdrung Bon Monastery, an important centre of Tibetan traditional learning, and University of forests and horticulture.  Interesting things that can be done in the area besides orchard stay in peach orchards around Rajgarh, nature walks, trekking and climbing  is ‘Mahaseer’ fishing in nearby Giri river.

The Other Home offers you some interesting stay option in the area such as Habban Cottage at Rajgarh,Parsonage at Kasauli, and Vatsalyam and Aapo Aap among others at Shimla.