India - Kalka-Shimla Railway now World Heritage Site

[John Ashworth]

Kalka-Shimla Railway is now a World Heritage Site
The Financial Express
Posted online: Tuesday , July 08, 2008 at 15:39 hrs
Updated On: Tuesday , July 08, 2008 at 17:12 hrs

The Kalka-Shimla Railway, considered an engineering marvel of the 19th century, has become a World Heritage Site with the UN approving it for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

Acknowledging its outstanding universal value, the Committee of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in its meeting on Monday in Quebec in Canada granted the inscription of the 96-km-long Kalka-Shimla Railway (KSR) as World Heritage Site.

The decision to include the railway in the heritage list was taken by the UNESCO's heritage committee on Monday in Quebec, Indian Railways Executive Director Rajesh Aggarwal said.

A special feature of this line is multi-arch galleries, which have been built instead of conventional bridges.

The committee meeting began on July 2 to consider the nominations, which include 13 natural and 34 cultural sites.

Welcoming the decision, Railway Board Member R K Rao said the decision is a boost for the Railways as well as tourism in the country.

"We have taken all possible steps to ensure its inscription and we were expecting it," he said.

With the KSR getting the UNESCO nod, Indian Railways now have World Heritage Sites in all the four regions in the country with Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in the east, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal in the west and Nilgiri Mountain Railway in the south.

Railways had prepared a detailed documentation on the KSR to be examined by the committee.

"Large dossiers comprising maps, charts, diagrams and audio visual content have been sent to the committee and the case was presented in a comprehensive way," said Rao.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in his 2008-09 Budget speech had said that railway heritage is a veritable treasure.

"Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Neelgiri Mountain Railway and Chattrapati Shivaj Terminal have all been inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. The Kalka-Shimla Railway is also likely to be conferred this status in the near future," he hoped.

Indian Railways' application for inclusion of these sites in the World Heritage List was sent in 2005.

UNESCO had sent a team last year to Shimla for an on-the-spot evaluation. The two-member team had inspected the entire 96.6 km-long stretch between Shimla and Kalka including 103 stations, 869 bridges and 18 stations during their 10-day visit.

Kalka-Shimla Railway, constructed in 1903, is one of the most significant hill railways of the country.

With it being in the Heritage list, the area is expected to attract large number of tourists.

Officials said the place is expected to become a major global tourist hub in the Himalayas.

Currently there are 851 sites of "outstanding universal value" in 141 countries that have been inscribed in the Heritage List and each year sites are added after applications are first reviewed by either the International Council on Monuments and Sites or the International Union for Conservation of Nature.