Indian Railway Heritage Trains
Heritage railway is a Railway that is preserved or tourist railroad which is run as a tourist attraction, is usually but not always run by volunteers, and often seeks to re-create railway scenes of the past. Here we can get List of Heritage trains operated by Indian Railway and it’s details.
A Brief Overview
Indian Railways maintain 34 Museums, Heritage Parks and Heritage galleries, spread all over India, for creating unique and rich experience to visitors about Railway heritage in India. The National Rail Museum in New Delhi and Regional Rail Museums at Chennai, Mysore, Howrah and Nagpur, are iconic tourist destinations in their region.
Indian Railways have also preserved about 230 Steam Locomotives, 110 vintage coaches and wagons at prominent places including museums, heritage park etc., for public display. Many of these rolling stocks are more than 100 years old and they bring back memories of old glory to the mind of the visitors.
Indian Railways are also preserving about 16 Steam locomotives as working heritage. Although, not in regular service, these preserved steam locomotives are still capable of hauling tourist trains and ceremonial running.
The Rewari Steam Shed has been rechristened as Rewari Heritage Steam Centre in 2002 for recreating the memories of working Steam Shed, a feat un-parallel in the World. Rewari Steam Centre now maintains six Broad Gauge and four Meter Gauge working steam locomotives, that include the iconic “Fairy Queen” (1855), placed in the Guinness Book of Record as being the oldest working locomotive in the World and “Akbar”, that featured in many Bollywood movies like Sultan, Gadar etc. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) and Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) also operate regular steam services thus attracting steam lovers from India and abroad.
Indian Railways have a large repository of built heritage like buildings, bridges, via ducts etc. As of now, about 25 bridges and 70 buildings are designated as Heritage Assets by Indian Railways. Notable among them are Jubilee Bridge near Kolkata, Yamuna bridge near Naini, Sonenagar Bridge, Pamban via duct, Bandra suburban station, Pratap Vilas Palace, Vadodara, Glenogle Bunglow, Mumbai, SER (erstwhile BNR) Headquarter, Kolkata etc. Indian Railways have been making special efforts to conserve these built heritages
A slew of measures have been initiated recently to institutionalize rail heritage preservation. These include strengthening rail museums, promoting rail heritage tourism, more steam trains, compilation of heritage inventory and publishing it on the website, collaboration with M/s Google for digitizing and providing online access to rail heritage inventory and visual tour of museums, MOU with INTACH and Ahmedabad University for capacity building of railway officers and introducing modules for training courses etc.
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.
- Online Ticketing System For National Rail Museum Launched ~ 18.04.2022
- Railway Museum by Indian Railway
- Heritage Sites by Indian Railway
- Heritage Gallery by Indian Railway
- Heritage Trains by Indian Railway
Online Ticketing System For National Rail Museum Launched ~ 18.04.2022
Ministry of Railways announced that in association with Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd. has announced the launch of online ticketing for National Rail Museum (NRM). The online ticketing system for NRM was launched on 18.04.2022. Further details are attached.
Heritage Conservation in Indian Railways
Detailed guidelines have been issued for heritage conservation covering maintenance of Steam Locomotives, up-keep of Hill Railways, promotion of Hill and Steam tourism, strengthening Railway Museums, conservation of buildings, artifacts, digitization and online dissemination of Railway Heritage etc. Indian Railway announced via Press release on 24.03.2021.
- There are 21 Rail Museums, 16 Heritage Galleries and 9 Heritage parks on Indian Railways.
- There are five Hill Railways namely Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR), Matheran Light Railway (MLR) and Kangra Valley Railway (KVR). Out of these, three Hill Railways namely DHR, KSR, and NMR have been declared as World Heritage sites by UNESCO.
Four Hill Railways namely DHR, KSR, NMR and MLR have been identified for monetisation.
Heritage Trains by Indian Railway
Following are the Heritage Trains by Indian Railway
Heritage Locomotive Tilottoma
STEAM EXPRESS / FAIRY QUEEN
Steam Loco WP 7161 is being utilised for hauling of Steam Special.
- PACKAGE CODE: FQ001
- ORIGIN:DELHI
- DATE OF JOURNEY: 27-APR-19
Further information of the Steam Engine including time table, route, ticket coast, booking rule, cancellation policy are here:- Details : Booking
GARHI HARSARU FARUKH NAGAR STEAM EXPRESS
Presently the train is being hauled by WP7200 AZAD, a Broad Gauge 1947, make Steam Locomotive.
- PACKAGE CODE: FQ002
- ORIGIN:GARHI HARSARU
- DATE OF JOURNEY: 31-DEC-19
Further information of the Garhi Harsaru Farukh Nagar Steam Express including time table, route, ticket coast, booking rule, cancellation policy are here:- Details : Booking
PATALPANI KALKUND HERITAGE DAY TRAIN TOUR
- PACKAGE CODE: WBR56
- ORIGIN:MHOW
- DATE OF JOURNEY: 17-APR-19
Further information of the Patalpani – Kalakund Heritage Rail Tour Package including time table, route, ticket coast, booking rule, cancellation policy are here:- Details : Booking
Heritage Gallery by Indian Railway
NORTHERN RAILWAY HERITAGE
- Rewari Heritage Shed
- Kalka Shimla Railway – A UNESCO World Heritage Site
HERITAGE GALLERY : WESTERN RAILWAY
HERITAGE GALLERY : MYSURU DIVISION
Mysuru Division of South Western Railway has opened the refurbished Rail Road heritage gallery at Platform No.1 of Mysuru railway station. The gallery traces evolution of Railways in this region through rare photographs and showcases visits of various dignitaries in past to Mysuru.
Heritage Sites by Indian Railway
Following are the Heritage Sites by Indian Railway
Patalpani Kalakund Heritage Line
Take a train to the natural wonderland. Patalpani Kalakund Heritage Line is one of the most remarkable routes under the Western Railway. Its natural beauty and exotic panoramic views have made it a popular tourist destination. Following are the UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways
MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS OF INDIA
Three railways, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, and the Kalka–Shimla Railway, are collectively designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Mountain Railways of India.
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR) – inscribed by UNESCO in 1999 : The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway consists of 88.48 kilometres of 2 feet (0.610 metre) gauge track that connects New Jalpaiguri with Darjeeling, passing through Ghoom at an altitude of 2,258 metres. The innovative design includes six zigzag reverses and three loops with a ruling gradient of 1:31.
- Nilgiri Mountain Railways (NMR) inscribed in 2005: This railway, scaling an elevation of 326 metre to 2,203 metre, represented the latest technology of the time and uses unique rack and pinion traction arrangement to negotiate steep gradient.
- Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR) inscribed in 2008:The world’s highest multi-arch gallery bridge and the world’s longest tunnel (at the time of construction) of KSR were the testimony of the brilliance engineering skills applied to make a dream a reality.
- CSMT inscribed in 2004: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai is commonly known as Bombay V.T or Victoria Terminus. The building is outstanding example of late 19th century railway architecture in the British commonwealth characterized by Victoria Gothic Revival and traditional Indian features as well as its advanced structural and technical features.
Railway Museum by Indian Railway
Details of Railway Museum by Indian Railway.
Heritage Railway Museum At Baripada
South Eastern Railway announced that Sri Bishweswar Tudu, Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India inaugurated the Heritage Railway Museum at Baripada (17.11.2021) in presence of Sri Prakash Soren, Hon’ble MLA. Sri P Mishra, Principal Financial Advisor, South Eastern Railway, Sri Manoranjan Pradhan, Divisional Railway Manager, Kharagpur and other officers were present on the occasion.
South Eastern Railway, Kharagpur division has completed the development work of heritage Railway Museum project in Baripada with an estimated cost of approx. Rs. 1.4 Crore within an area of 6000 Sq.mts. Inside the boundary wall, construction includes two tracks for placing engines and coaches inside covered shed, booking counter, toilet, water installation, garden area, shelter for visitors with seating arrangement. Lighting arrangements throughout the boundary wall and inside cover shed, have also beendone.
The development of heritage railway museum and its opening for general public is a matter of pride for the people of Mayurbhanj district and proof of rich railway history of the region since 1904.. The coming generations will be inspired and they would learn a lot from this heritage Museum. There will be continuous improvement in this museum, with the addition of heritage items from all over the division.
Rail Heritage Museum at Bhubaneswar
To preserve & showcase the rich history of Railways, General Manager, East Coast Railway laid the foundation stone for construction of Rail Heritage Museum at Bhubaneswar.
National Railway Museum (NRM)
NRM history, special packages, details of joy ride, program Time Table are here:- National Railway Museum
Rewari Steam Loco Centre
Here you will get details about how to reach Rewari, photo Gallery :- Rewari Steam Loco Centre
Chennai Rail Museum (CRM)
Details are here : Chennai Rail Museum
Following are the official website link related to Heritage Railways by Indian Railway Click Here>>