Scenic route
Araku Vistadome
Visakhapatnam → Araku Valley · India
- Distance
- 115 km
- Fastest time
- 4 h 10 min
- Top speed
- 60 km/h
- Operator
- Indian Railways (East Coast Railway)
- Train
- Glass-roofed Vistadome coach on the Visakhapatnam–Kirandul train
- Countries
- India
- In service since
- 2017
- Runs
- 1× daily each way
- Highest point
- 996 m
India’s first Vistadome coach (2017) climbs the Eastern Ghats to Shimiliguda, long the country’s highest broad-gauge station at 996 m.
When Indian Railways trialled its first glass-roofed Vistadome coach in 2017, it chose this ghat climb on the 1960s Kothavalasa–Kirandul ore line. From the coast at Visakhapatnam the train winds through dozens of tunnels into the Eastern Ghats, pausing at Borra Guhalu for its vast limestone caves before topping out near Shimiliguda, long India’s highest broad-gauge station. Araku’s cool coffee terraces wait at the end.
Along the way
- Dawn over Visakhapatnam harbour
- Ghat climb from Kothavalasa
- Borra Guhalu limestone caves
- Shimiliguda summit station
- Araku coffee plantations
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