Central Railway celebrates 71st year

CSMT was earlier known as Victoria Terminus

Central Railway, the successor to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) - the company that ran India's first passenger railway, completes 70 glorious years today, marking its 71st foundation day.

The railway was formed on this day in 1951 following recommendations of the April 1949 Railway Convention, which had recommended regrouping of railways to avoid centralised distribution of assets, optimum utilisation of trains and equipment.

The first train in not only India but entire Asia ran between Mumbai and Thane on Saturday, April 16, 1853. As the years passed, GIPR expanded. With the merger of the Indian Midland Railway Company with GIP Railway Company in 1900, its frontiers were extended from Delhi in the north, Kanpur and Allahabad in the north-east and Nagpur in the east to Raichur in the south-east. Thus, through Bombay, connection was obtained to almost all parts of India. The route mileage of the GIPR was 1,600 miles (2,575 km).

On November 5, 1951, Central Railway was formed by integrating Nizam State, Scindia State and Dholpur State Railways with the GIPR. At present, there are five divisions on Central Railway, i.e. Mumbai, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune. Central Railway's network is spread over 4,151 route km, connecting 471 stations in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

Central Railway has achieved many firsts in the last 70 years. Some notable achievements are first Shatabdi Express, first Jan Shatabdi Express, first Tejas Express and last year's Kisan Rail to name a few.

In 1951, there were around 519 train trips on the suburban network, which has gone up to 1,814 now. Mumbai's suburban services have steadily increased and has four corridors now. The services which started with four-coach trains have gradually increased to nine coaches, 12 coaches and some services with 15 coaches. AC suburban services have also been introduced.