Mountain City (Jubbarhatti Township) — Connectivity: Airports, Highways, Rail and Transit

Air Connectivity

Mountain City is planned in the immediate vicinity of Jubbarhatti Airport (also called Shimla Airport, IATA code SLV), so proximity to an airstrip is one of the site's defining features. The airport's single table-top runway, constructed by leveling a mountaintop, spans 1,230 meters (4,035 feet) in length and is situated at an elevation of 1,546 meters (5,072 feet) above mean sea level, which makes it one of India's more technically demanding airstrips. The small apron has parking space for 01 ATR-42 Type Aircraft, and the terminal can handle 50 persons for arriving flights, but only 40 for departing flights, so it is built for small turboprop traffic, not wide-body or international flights.

As of the most recent Airports Authority of India reporting period (April 2024–March 2025), the airport recorded 25,493 passengers and 1,166 aircraft movements, both down year-on-year. Travelers from distant parts of India or international destinations generally touch down at Chandigarh Airport, capable of handling larger, full-bodied aircrafts, before proceeding to Shimla. There is no published plan, as of August 2026, to extend the Jubbarhatti runway or upgrade it for larger aircraft as part of the Mountain City project — any such upgrade would be a separate AAI decision.

Road & Highway Network

The site's road access runs through the Chandigarh–Shimla corridor on National Highway 5, most of which is currently being widened to four lanes in overlapping packages. The Solan-Kaithalighat (NH-5) section was 85.17% completed, the Shimla Bypass Package-I (Kaithalighat to Shakral, NH-5) was 25% completed, and the Shimla Bypass Package-II (Shakral to Dhalli, NH-5) was 14% completed as per the last reported Ministry of Road Transport and Highways status update.

The Shimla Bypass itself is a significant piece of the puzzle: it will reduce the distance between Kaithlighat and Dhalli from 40.1 km to 28.4 km, and is divided into two packages: Kaithlighat-Shakral (17.46 km) and Shakral-Dhalli (10.98 km). The work involves construction of four tunnels whose total length is 3.7 km, besides 18 big bridges and 53 box culverts. The Rs 1,844-crore road project will decongest Shimla, and is scheduled to be completed by March 2027.

Further down the same route, the wider Chandigarh–Shimla Expressway package has faced repeated setbacks. The Chandigarh–Shimla Expressway is a four-lane highway project spanning approximately 120 kilometers, incorporating a key section, the 27.5-kilometer Himalayan Expressway linking Zirakpur to Parwanoo. Construction has been marred by delays, frequent landslides, and inadequate slope protection, prompting the Himachal Pradesh High Court to suspend tolls from September 20 to October 30, 2025, due to unsafe road conditions.

A separate four-lane project, the Shimla–Kangra highway (NH-103, formerly NH-88), also affects regional access but runs in the opposite direction from Mountain City. The larger 225-km Shimla-Kangra highway project was expected to complete by December 2025, divided into five packages, incorporating nine tunnels and four high-rise bridges. It will cost over Rs 10,000 crore to the National Highways Authority of India. Locally, the state government has also flagged the Shimla–Nauni road for improvement, with the Chief Minister stating that construction work of the Shimla-Nauni road segment will commence after the monsoon and is expected to be completed by September, 2026.

Rail & Freight Corridors

There is no broad-gauge railway serving Shimla or Jubbarhatti today. The only rail line in the area is the historic Kalka–Shimla Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage narrow-gauge line. The Kalka–Shimla Railway is a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow-gauge railway which traverses a mostly mountainous route from Kalka to Shimla, built under the direction of Herbert Septimus Harington between 1898 and 1903. All three Mountain Railways of India, including this line, are still fully functional and operational. It currently carries seven passenger services daily. The nearest station to the airport and the Mountain City site is Jatogh, roughly 13.4 km away on this heritage line — not a broad-gauge station.

The nearest broad-gauge railhead remains Kalka, at the base of the hills, where the Delhi–Kalka line connects Delhi and Kalka and links to the UNESCO World Heritage Kalka–Shimla Railway. There is no dedicated freight corridor in this hill region; India's DFC network does not extend into Himachal Pradesh's hill districts.

The one large rail project moving forward in the wider region is the strategic Bhanupli–Leh line, though it does not serve Jubbarhatti directly. This 489-km line, expected to significantly enhance connectivity to remote regions of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, will be constructed in four phases starting with Bilaspur to Mandi. The project is slated to be completed by 2027, with the first target being the introduction of train service from Bhanupalli to Bilaspur. The 489-km-long railway line has been designated as a strategic project by the Ministry of Defence. Its estimated cost, per the Detailed Project Report, exceeds ₹1.31 lakh crore for the full Bilaspur–Leh alignment. This line runs through Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu and Manali — none of which lie near Jubbarhatti — so it has no direct bearing on Mountain City access.

Metro, RRTS & Mass Transit

No metro rail or Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) has been proposed, sanctioned or is under study for Shimla or Jubbarhatti as of August 2026. Shimla's terrain — steep gradients, narrow ridgelines and heritage-protection restrictions under the Greater Shimla Planning Area — has historically ruled out conventional mass-transit rail options, which is one reason earlier satellite-township plans for this same area were scaled back. Local mobility around the airport and township site currently relies on taxis and limited shuttle bus services; there is no scheduled public bus service directly from the airport terminal.

Ports & Freight Corridors

Himachal Pradesh is landlocked, and Mountain City has no sea, river or inland-waterway port connectivity. This category is not relevant to the project's location or its stated economic-decongestion role.

Internal Road Network — What Hasn't Been Published Yet

Mountain City is still an early-stage project. HIMUDA received board approval in October 2023 to acquire land for the township near Jubbarhatti airport, as a counter-magnet city to decongest Shimla, at an estimated cost of around Rs 1,373 crore. A subsequent HIMUDA board review directed officials to expedite construction work at the site referred to as "Mountain City Jathia Devi," and the authority's board approved revised budget estimates for FY2025-26 amounting to Rs 125.38 crore for its projects, including this one.

No public DPR extract, master-plan document or notified layout describing internal roads, junctions, or arterial widths for Mountain City has been located in current reporting. Given the site's location beside NH-5 and Jubbarhatti airport, any internal road grid will almost certainly need to connect into the ongoing NH-5 four-laning and bypass works described above — but the specific alignment, number of internal roads, or right-of-way widths have not been disclosed as of August 2026. This page will be updated with internal-road details once HIMUDA publishes them.

It is also worth noting the site's checkered planning history: an earlier, similarly located township plan at Jathia Devi was shelved once before. With the National Green Tribunal restricting construction in the Greater Shimla Planning Area, HIMUDA abandoned a modern township project at Jathiadevi, near Jubbarhatti airport, that had followed a 2017 MoU with Singapore, because NGT-imposed floor restrictions made the project economically unviable. The current Mountain City initiative is a fresh attempt at the same broad location under a new cost and design framework.