India's 5 Mountain Trains Keep Slow Travel Alive

In an age when bullet trains cross countries in hours, a handful of narrow-gauge railways in India still chug along mountain passes at barely 20 miles per hour. And that's exactly the point.

These aren't relics stuck in the past. They're living invitations to experience travel the way it was meant to be, where the journey matters as much as the destination.

Five mountain railways stand out as testaments to both engineering ingenuity and the enduring appeal of slow travel. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, perhaps the most famous, loops and zigzags from West Bengal's plains to tea-covered hills without a single tunnel. This UNESCO World Heritage train shares roads with cars, weaves through bustling markets, and offers glimpses of Kanchenjunga peak along the way.

In Tamil Nadu, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway tackles India's steepest track using a unique rack-and-pinion system. Passengers watch the landscape transform from tropical heat to cool mountain air as the train climbs through forests, tunnels and tea plantations between Mettupalayam and Ooty.

The Kalka-Shimla Railway showcases early 20th-century ambition with over 100 tunnels and hundreds of bridges perched above deep gorges. Built to connect British colonial officials to their summer capital, the route through pine forests and misty hills remains one of India's most atmospheric journeys.

Maharashtra's Matheran Hill Railway offers something even rarer: access to a completely vehicle-free hill station. The narrow-gauge line from Neral winds through dense woods and red-soil cuttings at a pace that lets monsoon greenery or winter clarity sink in fully.

Why This Inspires

The least known treasure might be the Kangra Valley Railway. Running between Pathankot and Joginder Nagar in Himachal Pradesh since 1929, it follows river valleys and rolling hills past tea gardens and small villages with Dhauladhar peaks in the distance. Its quiet beauty attracts travelers who've learned that crowds aren't necessary for something to be worthwhile.

These trains weren't designed for speed. Engineers and craftsmen from earlier eras built them to conquer impossible terrain while preserving the experience of the journey itself. Today, they prove that some progress happens when we choose to slow down instead of speed up.

In a world obsessed with efficiency, these mountain railways remind us that three hours of curves, tunnels and breathtaking views might be more valuable than 30 minutes of blurred landscape. They're not just transportation—they're time machines that give us back something we didn't realize we'd lost.