Rail Museum Mumbai at Central Railway Headquarters Mumbai by shifting the office

Rail Museum Mumbai at Central Railway Headquarters Mumbai by shifting the office Shifting of the Central Railway Headquarters Building and its conversion to World Class Rail Museum

Rail Museum Mumbai at Central Railway Headquarters Mumbai by shifting the office – NFIR writes to Railway Board

A I R F

All India Railwaymen’s Association

4, State Entry Road

New Delhi – 110055

D.O.No.AIRF/12 Dated: December 15, 2017

Dear Shri Ashwani Lohani Ji,

Sub: Shifting of the Central Railway Headquarters Building and its conversion to World Class Rail Museum

It has been brought to the notice of this federation that, a decision has been taken, during last visit of Hon’ble Minister for Railways to Mumbai on 29.11.2017, to shift the Headquarters of Central Railway from the present heritage building to elsewhere, and this is, of course, a setback to us. So far as conversion of the said heritage building into a Rail Museum is concerned, it may be appreciated that, there are large- number of heritage buildings in Mumbai itself, which were built by the Britishers decades back, wherein different government/autonomous bodies/private offices, are still running. As an example, it may be seen that, Municipal Corporation of Mumbai, High Court of Maharashtra, Mumbai Police Commissioner’s Office, General Post Office, Telegraphic Office and office of the Times of India etc. are being operated in the heritage building itself, which definitely, instills a sense of pride in the minds of the employees and inspires them to uphold great values that these heritage buildings stand for. If thumb rule of converting heritage buildings into the museums is applied, a large-number of heritage buildings would fall under the ambit of converting them into a museum as mentioned in the foregoing. You may also appreciate that, Byculla Hospital building is older than CSMT building.

It may further be mentioned that, there are a number of UNESCO recognized heritage palaces in our country, being utilized as residence by the lineage of kings, viz. Udaipur Palace, Mysore Palace, Sahu Maharaj Palace, Gwalior Palace etc.

It may also be appreciated that, the present Central Railway Headquarters building was constructed in the British Era for the sole purpose of the administrative centre of the then GIP Railways, and later on, the same became the Headquarters of the Central Railway. This heritage building definitely stands as the epitome of the Railway history used by the eminent personalities who discharged their responsibilities as the head of this zone and have contributed immensely towards the all out development of the Rail Industry in the past.

It would, therefore, not be appropriate to vacate the said building to convert it into a Rail Museum by shifting the Headquarters of Central Railway elsewhere. If at all Rail Museum is to be opened, the ground floor of this heritage building may be considered to utilize for the said purpose, and the other floors should be allowed to continue as Central Railway Headquarters. Shifting Central Railway Headquarters from this building will unnecessarily cost hundreds of crore rupees as well as great inconvenience to the staff as also the rail users to whom it is a very convenient place.

I would request you to give a deep thought to the foregoing, and the decision taken be reviewed in the larger interest of fairly good industrial relations over the Indian Railways.

With Kind Regards!

Yours faithfully

(Dr. M. Raghavaiah)
General Secretary

Source : airfindia

To

Shri Ashwani Lohani,
Chairman,
Railway Board,
New Delhi