Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indian Railways Institute of Civil Engineering (IRICEN) to establish a long–term partnership in knowledge generation, sharing and collaborative activities for conservation, preservation and management of Indian Railways’ rich old heritage. As part of mutual agreement and understanding, Center for Heritage Management (CHM) and IRICEN will engage in series of activities for capacity building of railway personnel by integrating heritage perspectives in their training and work practices. 

The collaboration is also aimed at integrating ‘Heritage Management’ in the academic curriculum of IRICEN, wherein Centre for Heritage Management will actively work towards developing training modules and course components to be imparted to railway officers for creating awareness about Railway heritage. 

Speaking about the collaboration, Professor Devanath Tirupati, Dean of Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University and in-charge of Center for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University, said “The MoU provides opportunities for research for Faculty and Students of Ahmedabad University on heritage-related themes associated with Indian Railways. The Centre is likely to offer educational opportunities – primarily through it's Master's programme as well as other short duration programmes, for the Officers of Indian Railways that may be deputed by the Railway Board. 
We have mutually agreed to facilitate Faculty exchanges and access to academic resources between the two institutions. With the agreement in place, Centre for Heritage Management will consider pursuing heritage-related research that will help in achieving the objective of conservation, preservation and management of Indian Railways’ heritage.”

IRICEN is the Alma Mater of Civil Engineers working on Indian Railways for the management of railway infrastructure. Professor N. C. Sharda, Director, IRICEN shared the need for introducing the heritage management in their training curriculum. As part of 22-week training and orientation programme, the introduction of heritage management will provide greater insight and understanding of Heritage tourism to civil engineers who will be part of Indian Railways. As a constant endeavour to widen the horizons of learning, IRICEN has taken proactive efforts in introducing management practices by sensitizing the workforce about Heritage tourism. Both the institutions will engage in a series of activities to initiate a consistent effort in the capacity building of Railway personnel across the country. IRICEN along with Zonal Railways and different Railway units will be instrumental in incorporating Heritage Management practices in their training and work practices.   

Introducing the purpose of collaboration between Centre for Heritage Management and IRICEN, Professor Debashish Nayak, Director, Centre for Heritage Management said, “The Centre recognizes that knowledge in heritage practice is a product of interactive dialogue among academicians, practitioners, promoters and policymakers. Indian Railways is not only known for being the world’s longest railway network (accounting the total length of its service) but also holds a rich industrial history to it. By all means of heritage classification, Indian Railways has a treasure lying across the country. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, for example, is already on the World Heritage List of UNESCO.”