Bombay Railway History Group: March 2010

25 March 2010

Old arched bridge under suburban station in city

A beautiful 22-arch stone bridge was found under Bhandup railway station by the writer on the country's oldest railway line between Mumbai and Thane during the construction of additional 5th and 6th railway line corridor. The bridge has now been buried under a newly-built drain. It has been extensively documented.

-Rajendra Aklekar, Mumbai

15 March 2010

An old plaque at Dadar station

An old plaque found at the busy Dadar railway station. Dadar lies on one of the oldest lines of Indian Railways. The readings on the plaque are not quite clear, but it is dated recently around 1960s and made in India. It is probably the date of re-modelling the station structure.

--Rajendra Aklekar, Mumbai

The story of Bombay's railway heritage

The first passenger railway in the east (in Asia) ran between 21 miles of Bombay and Thane stations on 16 April, 1853, laid by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) that was originally set up under the Parliament of England Act. Citizens of Bombay celebrated the day as a public holiday.

The same 'experimental line' of the GIPR is today the lifeline of suburban Bombay, now called Mumbai, India's financial capital, ferrying a record 3m suburban passengers every single day. It is called the Central Railway today.

As the line even today runs on the same old blueprint, there are a lot of relics lying along it that attach are of national heritage. The group believes that it is important to document and archive those silent structures that so vividly tell the tale of the glorious past and is working towards it.

May it be that neglected, old and rusted metal shell lying in one corner of the line or a crumbling stone structure. It may be just a piece of scrap for everyone else, but here for members of this group, it's living history.

Rajendra Aklekar

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