Need to promote heritage, says Railway board top boss

"We need to promote our heritage, which is not being fully exploited," said Ashwani Lohani, the top boss of the Railway Board. "There is a need to attract more tourists by putting up boards outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus station," she added.

Sources said that they started the museum on a 2,100 sq feet plus room on the ground floor of CSMT in 2013. There is a small engine at the entrance, photos, memoirs and frames indicating the past few years of Indian Railways, logos of various rail zones, metal plates used in rail tracks, old telephones and other items of heritage value.

However, over the years, the number of tourists visiting this 130-year-old railway station has dropped significantly. Sources said that at present the average number of tourists visiting the museum is barely 12-15 per day or even less. Once upon a time, there used to 45-50 tourists visiting the museum.

There is a proposal to convert the UNESCO World Heritage structure of CSMT station into a world transport museum. "There is no doubt that a world transport museum will come up at CSMT," said Lohani.

Over the past two weeks, the railway unions have been protesting against this and are threatening to go on a hunger strike from April. The CSMT station is among the widely-clicked railway stations in India and is used by more than 2 lakh local train commuters daily.

VISUAL DELIGHT

Sources said that at present, the average number of tourists visiting the museum is barely 12-15 per day or even less. Once upon a time, there used to be 45-50 tourists visitng the place