Barog is a small hill station in
Solan district in the Indian state of
Himachal Pradesh. Barog was settled in the early 20th century during the building of the narrow gauge Kalka-
Shimla Railway. It is named after Colonel Barog, an engineer involved in building the railway track in 1903. Barog, the engineer, was responsible for designing a tunnel near the railway station. This tunnel is the longest of the 103 operational tunnels on the route of the Shimla-Kalka Railway, which is 1143.61 m long. Barog station is immediately after the tunnel. Barog tunnel is the straightest tunnel in the
World. Trains take about 2.5 minutes to cross this tunnel, running at 25 kilometres per hour.
Geography:
Barog is located at a distance of 60 km from Chandigarh. Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh is another 65 km from Barog. Till 2003, National Highway 22 connecting Chandigarh with Shimla passed through Barog. On 6 December 2003, the new section of the highway was inaugurated that would connect the village of Kumarhatti directly to Solan, thus bypassing Barog. This was done to avoid the steep incline to Barog from Kumarhatti. Barog is located at a height of 1560 metres above the mean sea level. Due to its height, temperatures here range between 23 to 10°C during summers and between 15 to 5°C during winters. The summers last from April to July. Winters set in during December and typically last up to February.
Economy:
The economy of Barog is primarily dependent upon tourists, who come here due to its cool climate and close vicinity from Chandigarh. Many hotels including Hotel KorInns and a Himachal tourism resort called Pinewood operate in Barog. Barog is also influenced economically by the nearby Lawrence School, Sanawar. Barog also serves as a fitness camp for the Indian National Hockey and other athletic teams.
