The ceremonial inauguration of the newly renovated Byculla railway station was held today.
A Century and a half, and more, old (169 years, to be precise) Byculla railway station, one of the oldest stations of the country, which was commissioned in the year 1853, returns to its heritage architectural glory. The ceremonial inauguration of the project was done today Friday, 29th April by Raosaheb Danve Patil Minister of State, Ministry of Railways and Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of the Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in the presence of Niraj Bajaj, Promoter Director Bajaj Group of companies, Abha Narain Lambah, Heritage Conservation Architect and Mangal Prabhat Lodha BJP President, Mumbai and Munira Chudasama, wife of late Padmashree Nana Chudasama.
This project was initiated by Shaina NC Trustee, I LOVE MUMBAI, daughter of Ex-Sheriff of Mumbai and Founder of I Love Mumbai and Giants International, the late Padmashree Nana Chudasama with the support of Minal Bajaj and Niraj Bajaj of Bajaj Group and Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation who willingly and wholeheartedly spent over Rs.4 crore, and Renowned Heritage Conservation Architect Abha Narain Lambah, of Abha Narain Lambah Associates, Conservation Architects and Historic Building Consultants, who graciously consented to do the project PRO BONO as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility initiative and with the full support, cooperation and able guidance of Central Railway officials.
"The task of the entire planning and execution has been completed and Byculla Railway Station has been restored to its almost original, ancient, heritage architecture with excellence.
The project was to be completed in 18 months, but, due to the pandemic, it has taken 3 years for this huge project to take shape. “We are grateful for the committed efforts of the contractor Qais Construction Pvt Ltd. and the cooperation and support of our Central Railway officials," said Shaina NC,
According to Shaina NC, the restoration and beautification of the Byculla Railway Station initiated by ‘ I Love Mumbai' with the support of ‘Bajaj Group & Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation' and 'Abha Narain Lambah Associates’ are dedicated to her father, Late Padmashree Nana Chudasama, former Sheriff of Mumbai who always strived towards a Clean and Green Environment' through his NGO's 'I Love Mumbai' and 'Giants International Charitable Trust.
Danve Patil while addressing, thanked Shaina NC and her team and promised that the railway will maintain the station and its glory. Earlier, Devendra Fadnavis while addressing the gathering said that Byculla is the oldest railway station in India and the task of the entire planning and execution has been completed and Byculla Railway Station has been restored to its almost original, ancient, heritage architecture with excellence.
Right from the early 1980s, and all through his tenure as two-time Sheriff of Mumbai (the first-ever Sheriff of Mumbai to be appointed for a second year in succession) Nana went all out to make Mumbai a better place to live in. Through the efforts of I Love Mumbai, Nana conducted umpteen cleanliness awareness campaigns, anti-spitting, anti-smoking, anti-drug campaigns, cleaning up public market places like Crawford Market and encouraging the hawkers to keep the market and surroundings clean; White-washing and beautifying compound walls with civic messages, Illuminating heritage buildings like Asiatic Library, Wilson College, Institute of Science and many more. Nana’s heartbeat vibrantly for Mumbai. His love for the city of Mumbai knew no bounds and his every endeavour was to make this city clean, green and beautiful so every Mumbaikar could proudly say “I LOVE MUMBAI”.
Historic Byculla railway station was built in 1853 and is the oldest station along the Bombay-Thane Railway line. The modest building is built in the Gothic style of architecture and is a protected Grade II A heritage building under the Heritage Regulations for Greater Bombay, 1995. The restoration and up-gradation works of the building have been executed by the contracting team of M/s Qais Construction Pvt. Ltd involving a holistic up-gradation and exterior façade restoration as accessed from the west entrance of the station.
The building overtime underwent various alterations and additions along the façade such as blocking of archways and windows, the addition of toilet blocks, blocking of verandahs etc. After restoration, the verandahs open into two ticketing areas which have been restored and upgraded. The old ticketing counter revealed a historic cast-iron grill design which has been restored back to the original. The new ticketing window was also redesigned sensitively without causing any damage to the historic building fabric. The offices of the station master, staff offices, and ticketing areas have been upgraded with new interiors and furniture. Toilet for staff has also been upgraded as a part of this project.
Apart from that made in London, a more than century-old brass bell which was used to sound the arrival and departure of Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) trains has been also restored in front of the station master office of Byculla railway station. In addition to that two small gardens, in front of the heritage structure, have been also renovated under this project.
The exercise of facade restoration included cleaning of the basalt stone facade, and restoration of original fenestration such as doors, windows, and gates. Apart from that Restoration of the timber truss roof, Mangalore tiles and smaller lean-to roofs along the facade were done. The addition of ramps, steps etc was also done in order to make the station accessible to all.
