Indian Railways & APHRTO organised a conference on Heritage Rail Tourism

The Dollar Business Bureau

The Indian Railways along with Asia Pacific Heritage & Rail Tourism Organisation (APHRTO) organised a conference on Heritage Rail Tourism in New Delhi from 19-21 October, 2016.

The event, which saw the participation of countries such as Japan, UK, Germany, Australia and Taiwan, had Tim Fischer, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia deliver the keynote address in a curtain raiser held on 19th October 2016.

The gathering was an opportunity for the participants to meet Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu to discuss ideas on developing rail heritage tourism in India. The delegates who interacted with the minister include Adrian Shooter, David Morgan and Dr. Nui Taiwan. The meeting was followed by a visit of the dignitaries to the Heritage Transport Museum, Gurgaon, managed by Heritage Transportation Trust, New Delhi.

Dr. Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog along with Hemant Kumar, Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board; Ashwani Lohani, CMD/Air India Ltd. and R.K. Verma, Secretary, Railway Board spoke to the people present at the inaugural session. 

The conference had three technical sessions with 14 papers being presented by national and international delegates focusing on various aspects of rail heritage and promoting heritage rail tourism in the world.

In addition to this, the annual general meetings of APHTRO and World Association of Tourist Trams and Trains (WATTRAIN) were also conducted as a part of the conference. It was done with a vision to foster ideas for strategizing Rail heritage tourism in India.