The Present Scenario
Nowadays, the
traveller from Ootacamund leaves Chennai central station on the evening Nilgiri
Express at 9.00 p.m. and arrives at Mettupalaiyam at 7.10 am. After a 10 hour
journey. There he merely crosses the platform to join the metre gauge train
which leaves at 7.25 am. And reaches Udagamandalam at 11.40 a.m. in less than 15
hrs. The Nilgiri Railway (NMR) is a feat of engineering unique in the east.
The line is a metre gauge, practically level for the first
four and a half miles, to Kallar at the immediate foot of the hills. As soon as
the train leaves Kallar, the rack rails appears and the long climb begins. In
the next 12 miles to Coonoor, the line rises 4,363 feet curving almost
continuously as it clings to the mountainside, crossing lofty viaducts or
tunnels, the longest being 317 feet in length. The gradient posts read one in
twelve and a half with monotonous consistency.
Construction
expenses were heavy because in addition to the tunnels, a big bridge over the
river Bhawani at the foothills was necessary. Besides this large bridge, 26
other bridges smaller in size, were constructed and heavy expenditure incurred
in rock-cutting and blasting.
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