Bombay Railway History Group: June 2012

A rare photograph of Bombay Municipal Corp headquarters taken from Victoria Terminus station, Bombay

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

91 9892 190 761

Bombay Railway History Group

11 June 2012

British Bombay