Kalka-Shimla rail link will feature prominently in the Unesco museum in Switzerland with the Indian Railways joining hands with Swiss mountain railway for promoting and preserving the 19th century heritage line.

“A section at Bahnmuseum Albula museum in Switzerland is being devoted to Kalka-Shimla Railway (KSR) and many aspects of the 19th century engineering marvel, including photographs and video recording of the running train through tunnels on the hilly track, will be exhibited,” a Railway Ministry official said.

The Bahnmuseum exhibition is expected to attract many foreign visitors to the heritage site, which would be a boost to tourism as well as mountain railway, he said.

Indian Railways has signed a MoU with Rhaetische Bahn, Swiss mountain railway, in June last year for cooperation in the field of protection, conservation and management of heritage rail assets.

“A Swiss team had visited the KSR site and were quite impressed about it. We are also sending some artefacts related to KSR, like a lantern used earlier for signalling system,” the official said.

The Switzerland museum is expected to be operational next year.

Kalka-Shimla Railway was inscribed as World Heritage Site (WHS) in 2008 by the Unesco, which has also declared Rhaetische Bahn and Austria’s Semmering Railway as WHS.

India and Switzerland are signatories to the Unesco World Heritage Convention which outlines the protection of industrial heritage and invites international exchange of technical expertise and bilateral cooperation to increase institutional capacities for the protection, safeguarding and management of heritage.

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