18x slower than Vande Bharat! India’s slowest train still packs full coaches; here’s why

In a time when Vande Bharat trains race across the country at lightning speeds, India’s slowest train continues to win hearts, chugging along at a pace slower than a city bicycle. The Mettupalayam–Ooty Nilgiri Passenger, which covers just 9 kilometres in an hour, remains one of the biggest tourist draws in southern India.

This iconic route belongs to the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), a UNESCO World Heritage site celebrated for its historic charm and daring engineering. First proposed in 1854, the NMR took nearly 50 years to become a reality due to steep slopes and difficult terrain. Construction finally began in 1891, and by 1908, the blue mountain train was ready to climb the misty Nilgiris.

Today, more than a century later, the slow ride is exactly what passengers come for.

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