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Mountain railways of India are the six or seven odd "''chhotey''" (Hindi for small) lines, out of around 20 similar such narrow or metre gauge remaining in operation around the world. Built during the nineteenth and early twentieth century of British colonial rule (the Raj), these lines have been running since then. Today the Indian Railways runs them, along with the Kashmir Railway, operational since 2005. While four of these seven: the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1881), the Kalka–Shimla Railway (1898), the Kangra Valley Railway Pathankot (1924), and the Kashmir Railway (2005), are in the rugged hill regions of the Himalayas of Northern India, two are further down south in the Western Ghats: the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in Tamil Nadu, and the Matheran Hill Railway in Maharashtra; while the Lumding–Silchar line, built at the turn of the 20th century, lies deep inside Assam, in the Barak river valley of the Cachar Hills. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka–Shimla Railway have collectively been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These lines connect important hill resorts with the foot hills, winding their way up through rugged yet scenic mountainous landscape. Given the terrain they were constructed on during the British colonial period, they were considered "outstanding examples of the interchange of values on developments in technology" and engineering marvels.〔〔〔 ==History== The mountain railways in the hills emerged as a result of the delayed interest evinced during the British Raj for establishing control over the Himalayas and other mountain ranges of India. It was in 1844 that Sir John Lawrence, the then Viceroy of India, had mooted the idea of a phased colonization of the hills, particularly as military garrisons. The British, in a proposal termed simply as ‘Hill Railway’, considered establishing geographically and culturally rich, stations across the country. The hill stations chosen for this purpose were Shimla, the then 'summer capital' of British India; Darjeeling, known for its tea gardens and scenic views of the eastern Himalayas in the state of West Bengal, the Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh, Ootacamund in the Nilgiri mountains of Tamil Nadu and the Matheran hill station in the Western Ghats near Mumbai were considered.〔 The pioneering effort to link the mountainous terrain of enchanting beauty with a hill passenger railway commenced in 1878 with the building of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway line, when Franklin Prestage of the then Eastern Bengal Railway initiated plans for the building of a hill tramway along the alignment of the Hill Cart Road from Siliguri to Darjeeling. Construction subsequently began, and in 1881 the line was commissioned up to Darjeeling.〔〔 The next project launched was of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in Tamil Nadu, initially proposed in 1854. Work started in 1894, but the railway was not completed until 1908, as the terrain was very difficult, given the big difference in altitude ranging between and over a distance of . The building of the Kalka–Shimla railway link commenced in 1898 to open up the remote hill regions to the rest of the country and was inaugurated by the then Viceroy, Lord Curzon, in November 1903. The Matheran–Neral 'toy train' was commissioned in 1907; Matheran is a hill station away from Mumbai. The Kangra line was built in 1929 in the picturesque Kangra valley.〔〔〔 The UNESCO's 'World Heritage site' recognition to three of the mountain railways of India has been for "outstanding examples of bold, ingenious engineering solutions for the problem of establishing an effective rail link through a rugged, mountainous terrain."〔 The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway got it first in 1999, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway followed suit in 2005, and the Kalka–Shimla Railway, in 2008; the three together have been titled as 'Mountain Railways of India' under Criteria : ii, iv under the region in the Asia-Pacific. The claims of the Matheran Railway, the fourth hill line, is pending acceptance by the international body.〔〔 The mountain railway systems in India include: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mountain Railways of India」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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