page_title: Ooty
section_title: Rail
hierarchical_section_title: Ooty / Economy and infrastructure / Transport / Rail
caption_attribution_description: Nilgiri Mountain Railway train climbs past Kateri Road. The locomotive is No.37392. 28th February 2005 AUTHOR&#160;: SELVA KUMAR.L - DHARMAPURI Camera - Minolta X700 (35mm film) Modified - Scanned by film developer. File size and definition changed using Adobe Photoshop 5.0LE
context_page_description: Ooty, officially known as Udagamandalam, is a town and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 86 km north of Coimbatore and 128 km south of Mysore and is the headquarters of the Nilgiris district. It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills. Local residents call it Queen of Hills.
  Originally occupied by the Toda people, the area came under the rule of the East India Company at the end of the 18th century. The economy is based on tourism and agriculture, along with the manufacture of medicines and photographic film. The town is connected by the Nilgiri ghat roads and Nilgiri Mountain Railway. Its natural environment attracts tourists and it is a popular summer destination. In 2011, the town had a population of 88,430.
context_section_description: Udhagamandalam railway station is connected with Mettupalayam by NMR metre gauge service. It comes under Salem division of Southern Railways. In 1882, a Swiss engineer named Arthur Riggenbach came to the Nilgiri Hills on an invitation from Government of India and he submitted an estimate for a line costing GB£132,000. The Nilgiri Railway Company was formed in 1885 and planning work commenced in 1886. The work on the line commenced in August 1891 and the Mettupalayam-Coonoor section of the track was opened for traffic on 15 June 1899. In January 1903, the Indian Government purchased the line, and took over the construction of the extension from Coonoor to Ooty.
  The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was operated by the Madras Railway until 31 December 1907 on the behalf of the Government. In January 1908, the railway line was handed over to South Indian Railway. The line from Coonoor to Ooty was completed in 1908. On 15 October, Arthur Lawley, Governor of Madras opened the new railway to traffic. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) is one of the oldest mountain railways in India and was declared by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in July 2005. It is the only rack railway in India, and uses the Abt system.
caption: Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a UNESCO world heritage site
exif: {}