CST Railway Station

Visited platform 18 - which is the last one here. It's neat, clean, silent has some shops for eating out as well. However I didn't like the fact that the escalators were not working so taking stairs is a hard task here.

Even being just a railway station it's a Big tourist attraction here in Mumbai. I just love this place & it's vibe, especially at night with colourful lighting! ❤️

The first railway line in India was inaugurated on 16th April, 1853 and ran the distance of 21 miles from Bori Bunder in Bombay to Thane. In May 1878, work on building a grand new terminus began under the architectural expertise of Mr. Frederick William Stevens, which took 10 years to complete. On 1st January, 1882, the Bombay Passenger Station was opened for traffic. The terminus was later re-named after the Queen Empress on Jubilee Day, in 1887.

The terminus was designed in a Gothic style, adapted to suit the Indian context. It displays exquisite ornamentation and embellishment on the front façade. The majestic dome is surmounted by a colossal figure representing ‘progress’, whereas each of the main gables carries a distinctive sculpture representing engineering, commerce and agriculture. The west front is approached by a grand gateway and sculptures of a lion and tiger couchant (representing England and India). The interior, consisting of a booking office, is created with Italian marbles, polished Indian blue stones and elaborate stone arches that are carved foliage and grotesques. Other features include a tessellated floor, dados of glazed tiles, stained glass windows and galleries of highly ornamented iron work executed by the students of J.J. School of Art.

After the remodelling of the terminus in 1929, the new buildings included refreshment rooms, dressing rooms and bathrooms. The former station, which adjoined it, was reserved for suburban traffic. The new wing had 13 platforms, the last five being exclusively used for trains running through various parts of India. Over the following decades, more additions and modifications were carried out to the original buildings. In time, Victoria Terminus, now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, came to be known as one of the finest railway stations ever created in the world.

Imposing, exuberant and overflowing with people, this monumental train station is the city’s most extravagant Gothic building and an aphorism of colonial-era India. It’s a meringue of Victorian, Hindu and Islamic styles whipped into an imposing Dalí-esque structure of buttresses, domes, turrets, spires and stained glass. It's also known as CSMT.

Some of the architectural detail is incredible, with dog-faced gargoyles adorning the magnificent central tower and peacock-filled windows above the central courtyard. Designed by Frederick Stevens, it was completed in 1887, 34 years after the first train in India left this site.

Despite being renamed again in 2017, after being changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in 1998, it’s still better known locally as VT.

Take a bow! British Raj government & all the architectures, labourers who gave their efforts and sweat for making this beautiful monument and many such great architectural buildings.

Thank you for making our beloved Bomaby city(now Mumbai) a remarkable, famous & capital hub of India.

Also, special Thanks to our BMC who has taken serious precautions & actions on the maintenance of these heritage architectures.

Its railway station. Fast and slow trains for Central and harbour line are available for local travel in Mumbai. Even out station trains for different cities & states are leaving from this station. It has washroom facility. Train ticket counter are their for removing tickets. It is a historic railway station and Unesco world heritage site in Mumbai. Its a very big railway station

Iconic railway station in Mumbai. This is also one of the tourist spots. It has its own charm with its huge Victorian style architecture.

But it looks all the more enchanting in the evenings when it’s lit up all the way making it glow in style. With the color of lights changing it keeps you glued for quite a bit.

There is a viewing area as well right opposite the station from where you can get it clicked.

Apart from all this glitter, it is a railway station which houses some offices as well. Both local and inter state trains start from here.

Chatrapati shivaji terminus station is a beautiful architecture in Mumbai city. This place also has a historic value and architecture is just amazing . So artistic and different type of place.
In night also amazing view with lighting.
The interior is also so amazing. This place is amongst the one of the oldest railway stations in India. Cst is a very crowded place at all times

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminus Station, in Mumbai, is an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in India, blended with themes deriving from Indian traditional architecture. The building, designed by the British architect F. W. Stevens, became the symbol of Bombay as the ‘Gothic City’ and the major international mercantile port of India. The terminal was built over 10 years, starting in 1878, according to a High Victorian Gothic design based on late medieval Italian models. Its remarkable stone dome, turrets, pointed arches and eccentric ground plan are close to traditional Indian palace architecture. It is an outstanding example of the meeting of two cultures, as British architects worked with Indian craftsmen to include Indian architectural tradition and idioms thus forging a new style unique to Bombay.