Darjeeling Himalayan Railway on UN stamps

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway on UN stamps

The United Nations (UN) on Wednesday  25th August-2021, issued a commemorative postage stamp on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) simultaneously from the UN offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna.

This is the first time that the DHR has been featured since the UN first issued a stamp in 1951. Along with the DHR, the UN has recognised the Rideau Canal (Canada), the Grand Canal (China), the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/ Bernina Landscapes (Switzerland/ Italy), the Forth Bridge (Scotland) and the Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

“The DHR stamp is valued at 1.50 Swiss Franc with the words Chemins de fer, French for railways and literally means iron path,”

The UN has said the Mountain Railways of India has three units; the DHR and the railways of Nilgiri and Kalka-Shimla. “They are still fully operational as living examples of the engineering enterprise of the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” the UN said. In 1999, DHR was inscribed in the world heritage list by UNESCO. The hill railway system has also been the subject of stamps of three countries.

The DHR has been the subject of stamps issued by Gambia, Tuvalu and by the neighboring country of Bhutan,”  adding that the Indian government had also featured the DHR on postage stamps on two occasions, in 1982 and again in 1993.

Date of issue: 25 August 2021
Designer: Sergio Baradat (United Nations)
Photographs: Alamy, Qinglong Ding*
Denominations:  CHF 1,50
Stamp size: 50 mm x 35 mm
Stamps per sheet: 20
Printer: Cartor Security Printing (France)
Process: Offset lithography
Perforation: 14 ½ x 14 ¼