UNESCO team to visit Kalka-Shimla heritage railway line Wednesday

The Reactive Monitoring Mission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will visit the Kalka-Shimla world heritage railway line on Wednesday, a railway official said on Tuesday. Two members of the mission will reach Shimla from Kalka town in Haryana in a special coach of a toy train, Shimla Railway Station Superintendent Prince Sethi told PTI.

Subsequently, a special narrow gauge (NG) train of two coaches with steam engine will be run for them from the Shimla railway station at 3.30 pm, which will reach Shimla extension at 3.40 pm, he added. Sethi said the NG train would depart from Shimla extension at 4 pm and will reach back to Shimla railway station 4.10 pm.

The UNESCO had declared the Kalka-Shimla line falling under the Ambala railway division as a world heritage railway line in July 2008. The line measuring 95.68 km from Kalka to Shimla was opened for public traffic on November 9, 1903.