MUMBAI: Despite having constructed regional rail museums (RRM) in
all other regions, Indian Railways had ignored the western region,
until now. Finally, the ministry of railways has identified land at
the picturesque Lonavla ghat and allocated funds to create a Western
regional museum displaying artifacts and the history of rail in five
states, including Maharashtra.

The railways would start the museum with a temporary display of
historic tidbits and artifacts at Lonavla station sometime around
October 15 this year. Meanwhile, the ministry has also started the
process of selecting a technical consultant who would guide
officials on the architecture of a permanent museum building. The
consultant is likely to be appointed before October 15, said
officials.

Rajesh Agrawal, executive director (heritage) at Railway Board, said
the ministry had earlier decided to construct the museum in Pune.
However, the plan was abandoned a few months ago because of the high
land prices in the software capital of Maharashtra, he
said. "However, now the railways has identified a plot close to
Lonavla station to construct the regional museum. It would show the
history of rail in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh
and Rajasthan,'' he said.

The Lonavla site was also chosen considering it's hill station
status and the fact that it attracts hundreds of tourists.

Incidentally, Indian Railways already has regional museums at
Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi to represent southern, eastern and
northern regions' rail history. The western region was ignored
despite the fact that the Great Indian Peninsular (GIP) railway or
the present-day Central Railway (CR) was the country's first rail
company incorporated in 1849. India's first train too steamed out on
it's maiden run from Boribunder (CST) to Thane, a distance of 21
miles in 1853.

Better late than never.

Agrawal said people visiting the museum would be reminded of several
forgotten facts. "In 1862, GIP railway commissioned three double-
decker coaches for the first time. These had a capacity of 120
passengers with 70 seats in the lower tier and the rest on the upper
deck,'' he said.