India Heritage Railways and Toy Trains: Darjeeling, Shimla, Nilgiri, Konkan and Vande Bharat Complete Guide 2026
Browse more guides: India travel | Asia destinations TL;DR I have ridden India's three UNESCO Mountain Railways, the Konkan Railway from Mumbai to Mangalore, and several Vande Bharat semi-high-speed routes. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (UNESCO 1999, 88km, 1881) climbs to Ghum at 2,257m. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (UNESCO 2005, 46km) uses a Swiss rack-and-pinion section. The Kalka-Shimla Railway (UNESCO 2008, 96km) threads 102 tunnels. Plan around weather, book IRCTC up to four months out, and pace yourself. Why Visit India Railways in 2026 India runs the fourth-largest railway network in the world after the USA, Russia and China. The system carries about 23 million passengers across roughly 13,000 passenger trains every day on 68,000km of track, with 22,500-plus trains and 8,300-plus stations under the Indian Railways Ministry that was set up in 1947. About 1.4 million people work for Indian Railways, making it the single largest employer in India and the eighth-largest...