Bombay Railway History Group

Updates Home About Recognition Archives GIPR Heritage Thakurli Colony Old Thane line

About Us

So, what is the Group about?

The Bombay Railway History Group began simply as a mailing list of group of people interested in Bombay's railway heritage in specific and railway history and heritage in general. One of the prime activities of the group is to inform and alert the concerned official railway authorities about unnoticed relics lying along the lines, document them in perspective of the country's glorious railway history and urge for their conservation. The group believes that the railways should declare entire Mumbai-Thane-Kalyan railway, the first ever railway construction in Asia as a heritage network line and conserve old relics along the stretch.

How and who started it all

Senior journalist Rajendra Aklekar used to run a column in a local newspaper on history and heritage of railway stations in Mumbai. It was during this period that he discovered a number of things that were very old and still in place. He then took up research on the subject, formed this small group in July 2002, and has since been independently involved in documenting and researching the history of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIP Railway), which is today known as the Central Railway with its head office at the ertswhile Victoria Terminus (Chhatrapati Shivaji Termius building), a world heritage site. As a part of the research, he has walked through the entire route of Mumbai and Thane and listed out heritage items (furniture, accessories, buildings and even rails and tracks) and inscriptions that tell the tale of the past, documented them and also photographed some. He now works with the Hindustan Times in Mumbai.

Aim

The belongings of GIP Railway are central pieces in the history of Indian Railways and they need attention. The basic aim of the group at the macro level is to get attention for railway history in India and abroad and document old railway relics.

Where can I find more details on all this

Join the mailing list on yahoo by simply sending a mail to brhg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Where can I view pics

Click on on Photographs link. More photographs can also be viewed by clicking on:

http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage/gipr-remnants

For information, mail Rajendra Aklekar at rail underscore india at yahoo dot com

Call: (+91-22) 09892 190 761

Post: 140-4752, Nehru Nagar, Mumbai 400 024.