Get a virtual experience of railways on mobile soon

You may not have visited the Nilgiri Mountain Railways or Vadnagar station, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have sold tea, but you will soon have a chance to take a virtual tour on your mobile or laptop.

The Indian Railways has tied up with Google to provide a virtual tour of important trains, including heritage trains, and royal saloons under the "Railways-Lifeline of a Nation” project.

Under the project, the viewers can visit Google Arts and Culture website or download the mobile app and enjoy watching the rich legacy of the national transporter, said a railway official.

The project has a comprehensive collection of digital documents comprising more than 100 online exhibitions, over 150 videos, 3500 images, route maps, stations, heritage trains, platforms and important bridges.

The viewers can enjoy a 360-degree view of various places from Nilgiri mountains, Kangra valley and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, heritage trains like Darjeeling toy train and Kalka-Shimla train, said the official.

The project will offer an in-depth exploration of the sights, sounds and significance of the railways. The project will also bring alive the lesser known stories and heroic efforts of people like trackmen, station in-charges and workshop engineers, to celebrate their contribution to the Indian Railways.

"This initiative is all about the iconic moments, the heritage, and the making of Indian Railways, which today is the backbone of the country in many ways," said Amit Sood, Director, Google Cultural Institute.

The project contains stories from the Indian Railways under various sections like the street art, literature, Bollywood, music and sports, which demonstrate the inseparability of trains and culture.

Google Arts & Culture has partnered with more than 1800 institutions in 80 countries globally, with 50 million people using the Google Arts & Culture platform every month. In India, Google Arts & Culture has partnered with over 50 cultural institutions to bring digital exhibits capturing the country's rich culture online.