When the Bombay, Baroda & Central India (BB&CI) Railway (today’s Western Railway) reached Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1864, its terminus was not Churchgate but Grant Road. A terminus at Colaba was conceived even before that, and a freight terminal was opened there in 1873. A passenger terminus opened in 1896. But the Colaba Terminus was closed down in 1930, and a new one was opened at Bombay Central. Why did the line come right up till Colaba? And what necessitated its closure? At our Online Talk #BeyondChurchgate, retired civil servant and railwayman A K Srivastava details out the role of cotton in the tale of the Colaba Terminus.

About the speaker

A K Srivastava is a retired civil servant whose last posting was as Additional General Manager of the Central Railway. He has had a close association with Mumbai and has worked at both, the Western Railway and Central Railway Headquarters between 2011 to 2017. He now spends his time learning about urban history. He has written a book on the Dabhoi narrow gauge line, edited a book on the Ghat lines and published many papers related to railway history. He was involved in the opening of a few heritage parks related to Narrow Gauge railways in Vadodara. He is currently working on the urban history of Lucknow and the 1857 mutiny.