Ranikhet Express - रेगिस्तान में हरियाली

An alternative alignment was possible, to the North of the existing alignment, which was longer, but with softer gradients and lesser number of sharp curves. But it was rejected as it would pass too far from Kukke Subhramanya temple (which generates a lot of passenger traffic on the route). Due to the lack of appreciable passenger traffic, there was no political support also for the new alignment and old Metre gauge alignment was only followed during gauge conversion.
If SBHR and SKLR, both are to be covered, then there aren't many shorter options available. The track descends almost 800 metres between the two towns within a very short distance ( about 40km in straight line route),...
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so large gradients are unavoidable and run distance has to be increased to avoid large gradients, for which there isn't much room available due to the hilly terrain.
For now, it's not feasible to reduce the run time or distance without considering a new alignment. A new entrance point to the Western ghats has to be chosen to get a smoother route.