Decision 44 COM 7B.26

Mountain Railways of India (India) (C 944ter)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 7B.62, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Takes note that the State Party has provided an extensive state of conservation report on the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway (DHR) component of the property, and requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre similarly detailed reports for the Nilgiri Railway (NR) and Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR) components;
4. Welcomes the State Party’s advice that the DHR and KSR components of the property retain their operational and functional integrity, that repair, reconstruction, restoration and maintenance works continue to facilitate steam train operations, which are critical to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), that encroachment and waste dumping have been addressed, and that a conservation and management unit has been established for the property, and also requests the State Party to establish integrated heritage units with in-house heritage conservation expertise for each of the three component railways;
5. Also takes note of the progress made towards determination of the boundary and buffer zone, and completion of the Comprehensive Conservation Maintenance Plan (CCMP) for the DHR component of the property, and reiterates its request that, prior to formal adoption, this plan be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
6. Further requests the State Party to provide the World Heritage Centre with information about any restoration and proposed projects and their potential impact on the OUV of the property, including detailed information on Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs), prepared in conformity with the 2011 ICOMOS Guidelines on HIAs for World Heritage cultural properties, and in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, for review by the Advisory Bodies;
7. Further takes note of the 2019 Reactive Monitoring mission’s recommendations, and requests furthermore the State Party to implement them, particularly by:
   1. Establishing comprehensive, up-to-date Management Plans for the KSR and NR components,
   2. Completing the CCMP for DHR and preparing, adopting or revising, as necessary, related management guidance documents,
   3. Establishing an official decision-making and implementation mechanism for DHR, including consultation with stakeholders and participation of local organisations and community groups,
   4. Investigating the legislative recognition of heritage values,
   5. Sustaining mechanical and functional operation for all three component railways,
   6. Strengthening the national capacity of Indian Railways (IR) for the management of heritage-related components and aspects of the property in order to inform the decision-making process with professional heritage conservation expertise,
   7. Exploring the training opportunities for managers and staff of the IR to raise their awareness of holistic heritage values of the property, including non-heritage staff,
   8. Ensuring that ongoing and future maintenance, repair, conservation or adaption for new uses of station buildings, architectural elements and associated structures is guided by specific conservation guidelines consistent with preservation of the attributes that justify the OUV of the property,
   9. Gathering baseline data by inventorying, recording and gathering historical plans and documents for all important elements, and systematic inventorying of all moveable heritage associated with the railways and their history, and providing adequate display and storage conditions,
   10. Promoting the three component sites and their respective history and values in order to contribute to the holistic understanding of the property;
8. Also reiterates its request to the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre a proposal to clarify the property’s boundaries and define a buffer zone for each of the three component railways, along with details of proposed policy and legal instruments to improve the protection and management of the property, in conformity with Paragraph 164 of the Operational Guidelines;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2022, a report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.