Qualla: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vegpuff, CC BY-SA 3.0. A lion and a tiger flank the main entrance gates. The lion represents Britain; the tiger, India. Above them both, atop the central dome, a bronze woman holds a torch in one hand and a spoked wheel in the other -- an allegory of Progress, gazing out over one of the busiest railway stations on Earth. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai, known to locals as CST or simply VT, has been the operational heart of the city since 1888. Designed in Italian Gothic style with flourishes of Indian palace architecture, it took ten years to build, served as headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, and carries the names of two empires: the British queen who reigned when it opened, and the Maratha warrior king who founded the empire that preceded British rule.

Image: Vegpuff | CC BY-SA 3.0

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus: Ten Years of Stone and Ambition

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aleksandr Zykov from Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0. Construction began in 1878 under the direction of Frederick William Stevens, a British architect attached to the Bombay Public Works Department, working from an initial watercolor sketch by draughtsman Axel Haig. The station replaced the older Bori Bunder terminus in what was the...

Image: Aleksandr Zykov from Russia | CC BY-SA 2.0

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus: A Cathedral for Commuters

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shishirdasika, CC BY-SA 4.0. The main office building follows a C-shaped plan, symmetrical on its east-west axis, crowned by the high octagonal ribbed dome that serves as the station's focal point. Inside, the heritage wing holds a series of large rooms with high ceilings, now used as offices of Central Rail...

Image: Shishirdasika | CC BY-SA 4.0

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus: The Names It Carries

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sailko, CC BY 3.0. The station has been renamed three times, and each name tells a story about who holds power and how they choose to remember. Built as Victoria Terminus, it honored the British empress who never visited it. In 1996, it became Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, after the seventeenth-cen...

Image: Sailko | CC BY 3.0

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus: 26 November 2008

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pratishkhedekar, CC BY-SA 4.0. On the evening of 26 November 2008, two gunmen entered the passenger hall of CSMT at approximately 21:30, carrying AK-47 rifles. They opened fire on commuters and threw grenades into the crowd. For over an hour, the station -- a place designed for the routine of arrival and depar...

Image: Pratishkhedekar | CC BY-SA 4.0

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus: Light on the Gothic

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca, CC BY-SA 3.0. Since 2022, the heritage building has been illuminated with LED lights each evening, the colors shifting thematically for national holidays like Independence Day and Republic Day. The effect transforms the Victorian Gothic facade into something alive -- the turrets and arches tha...

Image: KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca | CC BY-SA 3.0