Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT),Template:Efn and also known as Victoria Terminus (VT),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra, India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The terminus was designed by a British architectural engineer Frederick William Stevens from an initial design by Axel Haig, in an exuberant Italian Gothic style. Its construction began in 1878, in a location south of the old Bori Bunder railway station,<ref name="mu2006">Template:Cite bookPage 64</ref> and was completed in 1887, the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

File:Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus 2022 Dec.webm In March 1996, the station's official name was changed from Victoria Terminus to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus after Shivaji, the 17th-century warrior king and the first Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, who founded the polity in the western Marathi-speaking regions of the Deccan Plateau.<ref name="Eaton2019">Template:Cite book Quote: "Quote: "Amidst this fragmented political environment a new polity emerged in the Marathi-speaking western plateau. Its founder, the charismatic and politically gifted Maratha chieftain Shivaji Bhonsle (1630-80), repeatedly used courage and savvy to outmanoeuvre his adversaries."</ref><ref name="Kedourie2013">Template:Cite book Quote: "Tilak also inaugurated another cult by resuscitating the memory of Shivaji, the chieftain who had originally established Mahratta fortunes in contest with the Mughals."</ref><ref name="Subramaniam2016">Template:Cite book Quote: "Quote: First was the purely home-bred guerrilla force under Shivaji. The courageous and wily Maratha chieftain along with his successors and, subsequently, the Peshwas, defied the Mughals and other Muslim invaders for almost a century from the latter half of the seventeenth century and expanded the Maratha Empire, till it covered much of the Indian heartland.</ref> In 2017, the station was again renamed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (with code CSMT), in which the title Maharaj means "great king" or emperor.<ref name="McGregor1993-maharaj">Template:Cite book</ref> The initials VT and CST are commonly used for the station.<ref name=":0" />

The terminus is the headquarters of India's Central Railway. It is one of the busiest railway stations in India,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> serving as a terminal for both long-distance and suburban trains with a total number of 18 platforms.

History

Victoria Terminus

This famous landmark which has become a symbol of the city, was built as the headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway.

The railway station was built to replace the Bori Bunder railway station, in the Bori Bunder area of Bombay, a prominent port and warehouse area known for its imports and exports. Since Bombay became a major port city at the time, a bigger station was built to meet its demands, and was named Victoria Terminus, after the then reigning Empress of India, Queen Victoria. The station was designed by Frederick William Stevens, a British engineer architect, attached to the Bombay office of the Indian colonial Public Works Department. Work began in 1878. He received Template:INRConvert as the payment for his services.<ref name="WHS">Template:Cite web</ref> Stevens earned the commission to construct the station after a masterpiece watercolour sketch by draughtsman Axel Haig.<ref name="WHS" /> The design has been compared to George Gilbert Scott's 1873 St Pancras railway station in London, also in an exuberant Italian Gothic style, but it is far closer to<ref name="WHS" /><ref name="UNESCOABE" /> Scott's second prize winning entry for Berlin's parliament building, exhibited in London in 1875, which featured numerous towers and turrets, and a large central ribbed dome.<ref name="ReferenceA">Bombay Gothic by Christopher W London 2002 India Book House PVT Ltd Template:ISBN</ref> The style of the station is also similar to other public buildings of the 1870s in Mumbai, such as the Elphinstone College but especially the buildings of Mumbai University, also designed by G Scott.

The station took ten years to complete,<ref name="UNESCOABE">Template:Cite web</ref> the longest for any building of that era in Mumbai.

Missing statue

Template:Gallery During its construction, a marble statue of Queen Victoria was installed in the main façade of the building, in a canopy under the clock. In the 1950s, authorities had begun to remove statues of the British figures from government buildings and public spaces based on a directive from the Government of India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most of the statues, including that of Queen Victoria, were sent to Victoria Gardens (later renamed Rani Baug) where they were left lying on the grass in the open until at least the 1980s. A Right to Information report was filed, but had no records of the missing statue being exported out of India. Historians now believe that the statue was smuggled out, sold by politicians, or destroyed.<ref name="BombayGothic">Template:Cite book</ref> The symbol of Progress, another statue, featured on the top of the dome, is often mistaken for that of Queen Victoria.

Renaming

Template:Gallery The station has been renamed several times. It was built to replace Bori Bunder, the terminus of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway from 1853 to 1888 and was named Victoria Terminus to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1996, the station was renamed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus<ref name="SureshKalmadiWorkProfile">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in honour of Shivaji, the founder and first Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire.

In December 2016, the Fadnavis Ministry passed a resolution to change the name to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in the Maharashtra Assembly and in May 2017, the home ministry officially sent a letter to the state government denoting the name change, following which the station was yet again renamed as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. However, both the former names "VT" as well as "CST" along with the current name "CSMT" are popularly used.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2008 Mumbai attacks

On 26 November 2008, two Pakistani terrorists entered the passenger hall of CSMT, opened fire and threw grenades at people. The terrorists were armed with AK-47 rifles. One of the terrorists, Ajmal Kasab, was later caught alive by the police and identified by eyewitnesses. The others did not survive. The attacks began around 21:30 when the two men entered the passenger hall and opened fire,<ref name="CCTV">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="recalls" /> The attackers killed 58 people and injured 104 others,<ref name="recalls">Template:Cite news</ref> their assault ending at about 22:45 after they exited the station via the North FOB towards the west to Cama hospital back entrance. The CCTV evidence was used to identify and indict Kasab.<ref name="CCTV" /> In 2010, Kasab was sentenced to death for his role in the attack, and in 2012 he was hanged.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Structure

A 1903 photo of the Victoria Terminus, Bombay which was completed in 1888.

The main station building was designed in the Victorian Gothic Revival style of architecture by British architect F. W. Stevens, with influences from Romanesque and classical Indian architecture. The overall complex consists of a centrally domed office structure and a 330-foot-long platform connected to a 1,200-foot-long train shed.

The main office building has a C-shaped plan which is symmetrical on an east–west axis, but it has been designed in such a way that all sides are proportionally ornamented. It is crowned by a high central dome, which acts as the focal point. The dome is an octagonal ribbed structure with an allegorical female figure symbolising Progress, holding a torch pointing upwards in her right hand and a spoked wheel in her left hand.

The side wings enclose the courtyard, which opens on to the street. The wings are anchored by monumental turrets at each of their four corners, which balance and frame the central dome. The façades present the appearance of well-proportioned rows of windows and arches. The skyline, turrets, pointed arches, and eccentric ground plan are close to classical Indian palace architecture.

The interior of the heritage building was conceived as a series of large rooms with high ceilings, which are now primarily used as offices of the Central Railways. The ground floor of the North Wing, known as the Star Chamber, still in use as the suburban booking office, is embellished with Italian marble and polished Indian blue stone, and its walls were lined with glazed tiles made by Maw & Co of Britain.<ref name="BombayGothic" />

The building is liberally ornamented with statuary, bas-reliefs, and friezes. The stone arches are covered with carved foliage and grotesques.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The main entrance gates are flanked by figures of a lion (representing Britain) and a tiger (representing India). The main structure is built from a blend of Indian sandstone and limestone, while high-quality Italian marble was used for the key decorative elements. Externally, the building is decorated with sculpture, tiles, ornamental iron and brass railings. There are allegorical statues representing Commerce, Agriculture, Engineering and Science, as well as busts of Indian donors such as Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy and Jagannath Shankarseth carved into niches on the external walls.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The decorative elements such as the sculpture, wood carving, grills for the ticket offices, and the balustrades for the grand staircases were the work of students at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art, guided by John Lockwood Kipling.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The former Coat of Arms of the city of Bombay (Now Mumbai), inside CSMT station

The station stands as an example of 19th-century railway architectural marvels for its advanced structural and technical solutions. It was constructed using a high level of engineering both in terms of railway and civil engineering. Its dome, supported by dovetailed ribs built without centering, was considered a novel achievement of the era.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

An evening view of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Teminus.

Since 2022, the heritage building of the station has been lit with LED lights in the evenings, which are often changed thematically, particularly for Indian national holidays such as Independence Day and Republic Day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Platforms

CSMT has a total of 18 platforms—seven platforms are for suburban EMU trains and eleven platforms (Platform 8 to Platform 18) are for long-distance trains.

Rajdhani, Duronto, Garib Rath and Tejas Express leave from Platform No. 18.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Air-conditioned dormitories were inaugurated at CST on 16 April 2013. The facility has 58 beds for men and 20 for women.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Long distance terminus

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus has a long-distance terminus from platforms 8 to 18. The list of trains are in the table:

Long Distance Trains Departing From CSMT

Name	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Train Number
Mahanagari Express	00:10	03:35	22177
Mumbai CSMT- MGR Chennai Central Special Fare Special	00:20	23:30	01015
Mumbai CSMT- Latur Special Fare Special	00:30	11:40	01105
Mumbai CSMT–Madgaon Jan Shatabdi Express	05:10	16:40	12051
Mumbai CSMT–Madgaon Vande Bharat Express	05:25	16:00	22229
Mumbai CSMT–Chennai Express	12:45	10:45	22159
Mumbai CSMT–Nagercoil Balaji Express	20:35	07:00	16351
Mandovi Express	07:10	21:55	10103
Mumbai CSMT–Howrah Duronto Express	17:15	20:40	12261

In popular culture

• The station was a filming location for the "Jai Ho" song in Slumdog Millionaire,<ref name="Publishing2008">Template:Cite book</ref> the 2011 Indian film Ra.One,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and The Attacks of 26/11.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Timeline of Mumbai

External links

• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the UNESCO website
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Mumbai
• Google Satellite Map of Mumbai CST