Siliguri: A six-member Unesco team plans to visit Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) in April to conduct a survey of the World Heritage Site

The five-day visit is part of formulating# a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) – a blue print on conservation, management and sustainable development of toy train.

Officials of the Himalayan railway said the team would visit Darjeeling and different stations of the hill railway from April 9.

“We have been informed that this is a visit before work on formulating the CCMP begins. The team will visit all stations of the hill railway, including Tindharia workshop,” said Narendra Mohan, the area officer of the DHR.

The field survey will help understand the landscape of heritage railway, its various components and other important details about its conservation and management. “The team will have three officials from the Unesco’s New Delhi office and three Unesco experts from different countries. The preparation of the CCMP will take at least two years,” Mohan added.

The CCMP is mandatory for all Unesco World Heritage properties.

The master plan for the DHR will be formulated by the Unesco experts in collaboration with the Indian Railways that would provide the funds.

Unesco has said the plan should cover all aspects like institutional, legal and economic and ensure that the “Outstanding Universal Value” should be protected.

Paul Whittle, vice-chairperson of the UK-based Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society (DHRS), wrote an e-mail to The Telegraph about the visit.

“It is great news that work is about to start on this long-awaited DHR Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan, funded by Indian Railways and led by a UNESCO appointed panel of experts. This initial visit is the essential first step in a lengthy and wide-ranging study that will form the basis of a robust and lasting plan for the conservation and sensitive development of this World Heritage railway,” the DHRS official wrote.

“We know that UNESCO will be seeking input and recommendations from a wide body of local organizations and other bodies. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society will certainly be contributing to UNESCO’s work,” the e-mail read.

Established in 1881, the DHR was accorded the Unesco World Heritage status in 1999.

It is the second railway in the world to be given a heritage status after the Semmering Railway in Austria in 1998.