Rajendra B. Aklekar
It was a coup of sorts at the UNESCO-listed Mumbai CST heritage
railway headquarters on July 4. It was a momentous moment on the third day at
the CST Heritage Week, a brainchild of Central Railway’s Additional General
Manager A.K Srivastava, when he managed to get all the city’s heritage
guardians and experts on a single platform to commemorate and conserve Mumbai
CST.
To celebrate the iconic railway station, Central Railway has organised
a CST Heritage Week between July 2 and July 8 coinciding with the dates when
the structure was declared a World Heritage Site.
From Tasneem Mehta, Vice Chairman, INTACH & Managing
Trustee & Hon. Director the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, who had originally
submitted the dossier for Mumbai CST to UNESCO to get it listed as a World
Heritage Site to former Railway Board Member VN Mathur who represented India in
China at the UNESCO then and from the director of the Chhatrapati Shivaji
Vaastu Sangrahalaya (The Prince of Wales Museum) Sabyasachi Mukherjee to former
bureaucrat Sharad Kale, the director of Asiatic Society.
Dr Dilip Balsekar, the director of the Maharashtra Government Archives, Rajiv
Mishra, the director of the directorate of Art also representing JJ School of
Arts, Dr Joan Dias, the director of Heras Institute at the St Xavier’s College
Mumbai, also representing the Bombay Local History Society.
It was for the first time that all these veterans were on one
platform, speaking on one common love the Victorian Gothic Mumbai CST railway station.
Tasneem Mehta spoke elaborately on how she, along with
conservation architect Vikas Dilawari – who conducted a packed heritage walk on
Day 1 of the week – had worked day and night to get the dossier of Mumbai CST
ready for the UNESCO presentation twelve years ago. “We had a very short time
and there was not enough data available. We caught hold of an old railway
employee who guided us to the FW Stevens’ drawings of the building and that helped
us a lot. We could just manage it within the given time,” she recalled.
Former Railway Board Member VN Mathur who represented India in
China at the UNESCO said, “I was the secretary railway board and had to
represent India at the UNESCO. I had never worked at Central Railway but the dossier
helped me understand the station and fall in love with it. I came down to the
station and studied it so as to understand it. It was a success as Mumbai CST
had won the nomination. Today, 12 years after the event, I acknowledge and
thank all those who worked hard to get this done,” Mathur said, adding that he
was now writing a book on Indian Railway’s stations and their magnificent
architecture.
“The British architects went wild when they came down to
India and experimented with every possible style of architecture by building remarkable
station buildings across India. There is need to appreciate, document and safeguard
these for the future generations,” he added.
“I was surprised when the railways approached me and what would
they want from a museum, but was glad to know that they are celebrating Mumbai
CST. Millions commute to work here but no one really appreciates it. I am ready
to extend all possible help from the museum,” said the director of the
Chhatrapati Shivaji Vaastu Sangrahalaya (The Prince of Wales Museum) Sabyasachi
Mukherjee.
Director of Asiatic Society Sharad Kale spoke at length on
how the train created awe among the local populace when it had first run in
1850s. Rajiv Mishra, the director of the directorate of Art also representing
JJ School of Arts elaborated on how the students of JJ School of Arts had
helped the construction of Mumbai CST building and got the architect FW Steven’s
drawings into reality. , Dr Joan Dias, the director of Heras Institute at the
St Xavier’s College Mumbai, also representing the Bombay Local History Society
extended all possible help to document and conserve the Mumbai CST building.
At the end of the event, former Central Railway general manager Sunil Kumar
Sood handed over a set of archives to Dr Dilip Balsekar as a token gesture
stating that the Maharashtra State Archives would extend help in conserving the
valuable archives at the Central Railway.
But all said and done this was for the first time ever that
all these dignitaries from almost all the reputed and like-minded institutions of this city and state have been brought together for Mumbai CST, thanks to Additional General Manager AK Srivastava and Chief Public Relations Officer Narendra Patil whose sincere efforts need to be acknowledged.
I have been interacting with all the dignitaries individually and I can tell you that all of them have always had love and concern for the monument and I am sure
this gathering will lead to a much better conservation of this stately building and also of the archival
records which are not just important for the railways, but also for this city
as a whole. Amen!
Director of Asiatic Society Sharad Kale spoke at length on
how the train created awe among the local populace when it had first run in
1850s. Rajiv Mishra, the director of the directorate of Art also representing
JJ School of Arts elaborated on how the students of JJ School of Arts had
helped the construction of Mumbai CST building and got the architect FW Steven’s
drawings into reality. , Dr Joan Dias, the director of Heras Institute at the
St Xavier’s College Mumbai, also representing the Bombay Local History Society
extended all possible help to document and conserve the Mumbai CST building.
Archives state that the India’s first railway company, The Great Indian Peninsula
Railway, that also ran the country’s first main-line electric train in 1925 (Trams
and industrial locos had already been running by then) chose Edison’s 1500V Direct
Current for its higher start-up power and easy speed control with various
combinations. It was in 1956 that the shift happened to Telsa after a study and
recommendation by S.N.C.F, the French government railways to adopt 25,000V AC single-phase
traction as a standard for Indian Railways to meet the challenge of the growing
traffic. The power mode was switched over in phases since then and the original
line where it all started became the last line in the country for the switch-over.
The
last Direct Current train on the mainline of Indian Railways ran between the
16-km distance of Kurla and Mumbai CST stations on the midnight of April 9-10,
2016. The train was welcomed with live bands, dance performances and
celebrations at most of the stations on the route. The journey of India’s first
electric train had started on the same route and it ended at the same station, Mumbai
CST where it had all begun 91 years ago. The special last train, with the
General Manager Brigadier Sunil Kumar Sood, senior officials, media, rail fans
and invitees, departed Kurla at 1130pm on Saturday, April 9, 2016 from platform
8 at Kurla suburban station and reached Mumbai CST exactly at 12:22am on Sunday
April 10, 2016 as I photographed, video-graphed and live-tweeted the entire
event with pics on my account @rajtoday. It was indeed a matter of pride and
honour to be a part of the historic last DC train journey on the mainlines of
Indian Railways. DC traction, however, continues to remain on the Kolkata
Metro, a zone of Indian Railways, which is powered by a 750V DC third line.
As
the train reached Mumbai CST to a live band by Central Railway team in uniform,
there more dances and performances at Mumbai CST and a was a small formal function
at the Star Chamber, the glorious FW Sevens designed booking hall, with screens
of the control room and the switchover. The magnificent building remained lit
throughout the night. 
Earlier
in the day, I had started my journey from Sanpada carshed where I joined the
other rail fans to decorate the last DC train that was being prepared for the
journey. The ‘Art Deco’ Jessop-series 319 train had been chosen for the journey
and painted over in the original standard brown-yellow colour that had been the
signage of Mumbai trains over the past ninety years. 
