Question : Heritage Preservation in Railways

(a) whether the Government is considering to take certain reformative measures to promote heritage preservation in the Railways and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Railway Board is now preparing to launch a special drive to identify various heritage items or artefacts that are currently lying unnoticed or overlooked at different locations and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether there is a proposal for the revival of steam locomotives and run regular time-tabled trains on steam traction, if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Union Government proposes for the maintenance of Railways in hilly areas and bring them to the world standard to promote tourism; and
(e) if so, the steps taken by the Union Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a): Ministry of Railways has initiated several measures to promote heritage preservation in the Railways. These include revival of Steam

Locomotives, up-keeping Hill Railways, special delegation of powers to
Divisions for promoting Hill and Steam tourism, strengthening Railway museums, conservation of built heritage, digitization of Railway Heritage and bringing it online for universal access etc.

(b): Drives are launched, from time to time, by Zonal Railways/Production Units for identification and preservation of Railway heritage assets like buildings, bridges, rolling stocks, documents, photographs, artefacts, equipment, clocks, benches etc. The last such drive was launched in 2018 on a Pan-Indian Railways basis.

(c): Ministry of Railways has made a specific provision in the budget outlay for 2018-19 for revival of steam locomotives including restoration and procurement of spares. During current financial year, a weekly regular time tabled train on steam traction is being operated between Garhi Harsaru and Farukhnagar.


(d) & (e): Maintenance of five hill railways of India [Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR), Matheran Light Railway(MLR) and Kangra Valley Railway (KVR)] are undertaken as per extant codal provision of Indian Railways and UNESCO Guidelines. In addition, special delegation of powers has been accorded to concerned Divisional Railway Managers for promoting tourism in these five hill railways.

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