Railway Station Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus at Mumbai (Bombay)

The Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus (until 1996 Victoria terminus) is a railway station in Mumbai. It is among the largest and busiest railway stations of the world and has belonged since 2004 to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

The British architect Frederick William Stevens received in 1878 the project to design a railway station building as a western terminal for the distance traffic. In his before studies in England, he let inspire himself by the railway station building of London's St Pancras station, with which the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus shows resemblances. Since Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was completed in 1888, it is counted as the largest and most important building of British India. Around the end of year 920 it was expanded and serves since then also the suburb traffic.

The building is in the style of the Victorian neo-gothic. The platforms are approximately 400 meters long. Over the head entrance, around 100 meters high, one finds octagonal cupola that is carried by a rib construction. The building is richly decorated with stone sculptures and relief. On the cupola thrones the sculpture of Lady of Progress. Daily more than 1000 trains and about 3 million passengers go through this railway station. It was named first after the British queen Victoria. Since 1996, it has carried the name of the Hindu Marathi prince Shivaji (Chhatrapati, "patron").