Mountain Railways of India

• Management Systems/Management Plan (Lack of an adapted management plan; Lack of a heritage conservation unit; Absence of a Buffer Zone)

Total amount provided: USD 533,332 via a self-benefiting Funds-in-Trust project by the Indian Railways, set up at the UNESCO Office in New Delhi for the establishment of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Framework

A joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission visited Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) and the Kalka Shimla Railway in December 2019. The mission report is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/944/documents. In January 2020, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation, also available at the above-mentioned web address. This report relates only to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) component of the property (i.e. not to the Nilgiri Railway or Kalka Shimla Railway components) and provides the following information:

• Indian Railways is committed to conserving the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property. A conservation and management unit has been established for DHR. Train services continue, using some steam locomotives more than 100 years old. Patronage has increased from 64,030 in 2017 to 92,310 in 2019. A Funds-in-Trust project agreement with UNESCO provides for “Development of Comprehensive Conservation Maintenance Plan (CCMP) for Darjeeling Himalayan Railway World Heritage Site through Effective Stakeholders’ Empowerment”. The CCMP is nearing completion, prior to submission to the Committee. The property boundary and buffer zone are addressed in the CCMP and the boundary will include land owned by Indian Railways at the time of inscription;
• The marking of the property and the replacement of sleepers are on-going;
• DHR has operated for more than 138 years with almost no accidents because of proper maintenance of trains, track and infrastructure. Funding has increased for maintenance and safe operations. Since 2018, 39 coaches and seven steam locomotives have been overhauled and returned to service. In view of safe operations requirements, and owing to the non-availability of wood, dilapidated wooden sleepers have mostly been replaced with concrete ones, but wood sleepers have been used at some stations;
• Rehabilitation work has returned both Gayabari and Sonada stations, severely damaged by civil unrest in 2017, to their original form and full operation. The Kurseong Railway Printing Press has closed, but select machinery is retained in use on site as a museum;
• Waste dumping has been addressed through cleanliness drives and local coordination;
• There has been no new encroachment by illegal construction since the inscription of the property, owing to monitoring and regular follow-up;
• Celebrations of the 20th anniversary of World Heritage inscription occurred in late 2019 to promote awareness about the heritage value of the DHR component of the property.

In August 2020, the State Party confirmed that heavy monsoonal rainfall had induced landslides along the route of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, but that repairs were in progress and that the line was already not operating owing to implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) and Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR) components of the property are reported to retain their operational and functional integrity. Ongoing commitment by Northeast Frontier Railway to provide specialised skills and equipment for the maintenance of steam locomotives and rolling stock remains critical to continuing railway operations, which are a key attribute of the property’s OUV. No information has been provided by the State Party or the 2019 mission in relation to the Nilgiri Railway component of the property.

The recent reconstruction and restoration of Gayabari and Sonada station buildings, severely damaged by civil unrest in 2017, and the programme of sleeper replacement are positive initiatives, as is the Track Maintenance Manual being developed as part of the CCMP process. However, the recent modernisation of Kalka and Shimla stations on the KSR, without apparent input from relevant heritage experts, is regrettable, and the State Party should be reminded of its obligations under Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines. Station buildings and other elements of industrial heritage at the DHR and KSR remain at risk if professional heritage expertise is not involved in planning, management, maintenance, conservation and adaptation.

The draft CCMP has been developed in liaison with the UNESCO Office in New Delhi and Indian Railways. The draft CCMP responds to the recommendations made by ICOMOS in 1999 at the time of inscription and Decision 43 COM 7B.62, through provisions for establishment of a heritage conservation unit, clarification of the boundary and buffer zone, policy and legal instruments to improve protection, and proposed review by the World Heritage Centre and Advisory Bodies.

The boundary of the DHR component is still being negotiated. The buffer zone proposed in the draft CCMP is subject to discussions with various public stakeholders that have jurisdictional duties over the area and landowners. The draft CCMP recommends that management arrangements for the buffer zone be agreed through a Memorandum of Understanding. Encroachment on the DHR’s land and operations has been addressed, but potential negative impacts remain from nearby developments. The ongoing management of waste in the DHR and KSR should be addressed in consultation with relevant authorities, and local communities.

In view of the nature of the OUV of the property and its setting in a vibrant and developing environment, the CCMP should be augmented with associated policies addressing matters such as sustainable development, notably  a formal consultation and decision-making mechanism for the property and buffer zone, which is key to the successful implementation of the management framework and actions.

Legal recognition of the railways as heritage sites would strengthen public and government recognition of their values and potentially broaden the range of heritage expertise available to advise decision making. It is desirable that the current management structure be strengthened with professional heritage conservation expertise engaged at the line-management level of the railways, rather than relying on contract heritage expertise engaged on a project-by-project basis. A heritage unit with in-house heritage conservation expertise should be established and integrated to the management of all three component railways. Further awareness raising and capacity building are required for the property’s non-heritage staff.