UNESCO Heritage Railway (Kalka - Shimla) in India damaged by landslide

[caravanman]

Shimla, August 14

The Unesco world heritage Shimla-Kalka railway line was damaged near Summer Hill here after a landslide swept away a 50-metre bridge, leaving a portion of the track hanging in the air, officials said on Monday.

Youtube short video.

 

[jis]

Shimla, August 14

The Unesco world heritage Shimla-Kalka railway line was damaged near Summer Hill here after a landslide swept away a 50-metre bridge, leaving a portion of the track hanging in the air, officials said on Monday.

Youtube short video.

Railways and roads getting swept away in landslides is not that unusual. Kalka-Shimla has been relatively less prone to it. the Darjeeling Himalayan needs to be repaired almost every other year.

This is one reason that all new railways being built in the Himalayas and its foothills (Kalka-Shinla is in the Shivalik Range - one of the foothills of the Himalayas) are extensively inside tunnels, in order to avoid instability of surface formations in the Himalayas which is literally shifting earth under your feet as it is still actively rising centimeters per year, which is like lightning speed in Geological terms.