Ghum railway station of the

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the DHR or the Toy Train, is a gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. Built between 1879 and 1881, it is about long. It climbs from ab ...

is the highest railway station in India. It is situated at an altitude of .Agarwala, A.P. (editor), ''Guide to Darjeeling Area'', 27th edition, p. 53-55, . The place is the home of the Ghum Monastery and the

Batasia Loop The Batasia Loop is a spiral railway created to lower the gradient of ascent of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India. At this point, the track spirals aroun ...

, a bend of the

A train of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway at Ghoom Station

Construction of the

started in 1879 and the railway track reached Ghum on 4 April 1881. Until 1878, the journey from Kolkata to Darjeeling took 5–6 days — using steam-engine-pulled trains, crossing the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

by steam ferry at Sahebganj, and then using bullock carts and palanquins. In 1878, Siliguri was put on the railway map of India, cutting down the journey to two days. In 2007, the train journey from Kolkata to New Jalpaiguri (a new railway station from Siliguri) takes about 10 hours. Thereafter it is 3–4 hours to Ghum or Darjeeling by road or 6–7 hours by the

. Those who are not eager to travel all the way from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling by the slow train climbing up the hill can enjoy a ride on the tourist train from Darjeeling to Ghum and back. Ghum Museum

After climbing from Siliguri to Ghum, the train starts descending about to Darjeeling, first crossing the graceful double loop at Batasia (meaning windy place). Ghum is (falsely) claimed by some tourist literature to be the highest railway station in the world. It never was. Chicla station at in Peru opened in 1878. The

Tanggula railway station The Tanggula (Dangla) railway station () is a railway station located in Amdo County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, near the border with the Tanggula Town, Qinghai Province. The railway station has three tracks, one of them served by a platf ...

on the Qingzang railway in China and Tibet, opened in 2006, is at . In

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, the

Jungfraubahn The Jungfrau Railway (german: Jungfraubahn, JB) is a mountain railway in the Bernese Alps, connecting Kleine Scheidegg in the Bernese Oberland to the Jungfraujoch, across the Valais border. The railway, which uses a and racks, runs from th ...

(JB) is a

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with t ...

which runs from

Kleine Scheidegg The Kleine Scheidegg ( en, Little Scheidegg) is a mountain pass at an elevation of , situated below and between the Eiger and Lauberhorn peaks in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The name means "minor watershed", as it only divides the ...

to the highest railway station in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

at Jungfraujoch (elevation ). Ghum Map

References

{{Reflist Railway stations in Darjeeling district Northeast Frontier Railway zone