SIVAJI TERMINUS

Sivaji terminous:

      

          Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, once known as Victoria Terminus, is among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is considered as a milestone for the station architecture and is admired all over the globe. Designed by FW Stevens, this terminus is popular as the herald of golden ancient epoch of Indian Railway architecture. Its brilliant architecture fascinates even the non-travelers, which is a pleasant blend of Sarcenic, Gothic, Venetian and the Indo-Islamic traditions. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), formerly known as Victoria Terminus (VT), is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a historic railway station located in the heart of Mumbai.

 Built in 1888, the station is a grand reminder of the British Raj in India and still one of the most historical landmarks within the Central Business District of Mumbai. It has been a core witness to the city flourishing, businesses blooming, and the Indian film industry growing. It has seen the transition of Bombay to Mumbai. Let’s learn more about this historical gem.

Designed by the British architect F. W. Stevens, CST is an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in India, blended with themes deriving from Indian traditional architecture. The structure represents the heart of the mercantile facet of the city and also symbolizes the British Commonwealth. CST has been associated with Mumbai since time immemorial.

In the past, ‘Bori Bandar’ station, located in Eastern Mumbai, was the main station for all commercial and trade activities in the city. In the 1850s, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway operated in this area, which gave it the name ‘Bori Bandar,’ starting its first rail service covering a total distance of 34 kilometers to Thane. It was during the British Rule that it was re-designed by F. W. Stevens, who named it Victoria Terminus (VT), after the then-reigning Queen Victoria.

In 1996, the Minister of Railways, Suresh Kalmadi, changed the name of the station to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, in honor of great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire

Almost anyone who has lived in Mumbai has paused in the common area at the head of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus suburban train platforms – not least to relieve the pervading mugginess by getting in the way of the industrial strength blowers that pass for fans.

From here one sees trains pull in, and commuters step off even before the train has stopped. A residual momentum propels them out into the city, as if the characteristic buzz of Mumbai is generated entirely in its trains.

It would be reason enough to pick Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) as the building most emblematic of Mumbai because more than three million of the city’s residents rush through its portals every day. But this late-19th-century railway terminus happens also to be one of the finest examples of colonial architecture in the country, representing an east-meets-west style that developed here.

This is also where the first passenger train service in India started; the railway would prove indispensable to Mumbai’s functioning and growth. The terminus was also perhaps the first truly public building in what was then Bombay. Now, its structure is iconic to the point of cliche: when a Hindi film needs to establish a scene as happening in Mumbai, it’s CST that fills the screen, a stately edifice amid a swirl of traffic and people.