Indian Railways first train: Thane local passengers pen letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal

India’s first train ran from Thane to Bori Bunder in Mumbai on 16 April, 1853. It has been 165 years since and on this occasion, passenger associations have proposed the installation of old steam engine as a memorabilia, if not a world class rail museum, at Thane. This comes after the plan for a World Transport Museum at CSMT has been put in cold storage. Thane’s passenger representatives have submitted a letter to Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on 12 April demanding the same. The letter states the local passenger associations have been demanding at least a steam engine to be installed at Thane station and requests for directions to the local railways (in this case Central Railway) for the same.

“As it is the Transport Museum at CSMT is most likely not to come(sic). With Thane-Bori Bunder being the first rail route, as a token of history, we asked the minister to at least keep a steam engine for public view,” said Nandkumar Deshmukh, president, Thane Railway Pravasi Sangh.Passenger associations claim that despite Thane holding historical relevance for Indian Railways, it remains in a poor condition. There was a proposal to convert Thane into a world class station, which barely took off. “Everyday around 5-6 lakh people travel via Thane through main (CSMT-Kalyan) and trans-harbour (Thane-Vashi) lines. Despite this, the station is neglected and facilities provided are insufficient,” added Deshmukh.

Meanwhile, passenger associations will be holding a small function to felicitate railwaymen in Thane and neighbouring stations. They will call the ticket checkers, gangmen working on tracks, station masters and other staff there for the same. At present there are wooden pillars, station office on platform 2 which has developed cracks and other relics at Thane station which has survived these many years.

(By Shashank Rao, DNA)