Mountain Railways of India

The narrow gauge train of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway climb up to 2,000 meter height, groaning and emitting smoke. The building of one of the first mountain trains of the world was a technical masterly performance. It is well known also under the name Toy Train. The track was constructed between 1879 and 1881 under the British colonial government. This toy train overcomes a length of 86 km from Siliguri to Darjeeling with a heights difference of more than 2,000 m and needs 6.5 hours for the complete journey. Darjeeling mountain train was included by UNESCO in 1999 in the list of world cultural heritage.

This toy train functions after more than hundred years yet today with original technology. It functioned also as a good train in British colonial period. The train was extremely effective at that time; it reduced the carrier costs and made the tea out of Darjeeling affordable and popular. Today the tea is transported with truck. Darjeeling Himalayan Train like earlier goes through the Bazaars of the mountain villages, pass through monasteries high in the clouds, through women weaving on the next track and through extended tea plantations. The Darjeeling Train is the shining example worldwide for being operated by one of the world's oldest steam engine of 19th century.

As an expansion of the cultural heritages of the Himalayan mountain trains, after Darjeeling a 46 kilometers long iron track of the Nilgiri hill train in the state Tamilnadu was included in 2005 in the world cultural heritage list.