Today's Western Suburban Line spans from the city's heart at Churchgate, all the way till Dahanu Rd, around 120 kms away. It indeed is a long route, and around 37 stations lie on the line. Needless to say, it is the lifeline of the city (along with the CR line of course), ferrying about 2.657 million passengers daily! However, the suburban line was extended till Dahanu only in 2013, before which the locals would only travel till Virar. And this was the case for around 140 years.
All this properly started all the way back on 12th April 1867, which is around 157 years ago! In this article, I'd like to tell you a few things about how it all began.
The BB&CI Railway (precursor to today's Western Railway) formed in 1855 with the task of laying a rail line from Gujarat to Bombay, the latter being an important port, and a hub of commerce. Work progressed, and the line reached Bombay by the 1860s. Soon on 28th November 1864, the first train ran on the line between Grant Rd and Ahmedabad. This was an important achievement per se, since now cotton and other goods from the country could be easily transported to Bombay, to ferry off via the seas. But now, Bombay had got another railway service (after the GIPR line on the east), this time on the western side. The railway could now try to expand its service within the city. Land was soon reclaimed at Backbay, and a line was laid upon it. This allowed further extension, till Backbay by 1866, Churchgate by 1870, and finally to a terminus at Colaba by 1873.
Besides the main line services till Gujarat, the BB&CIR also began suburban services. The first such service began from that erstwhile terminus at Grant Rd, till the Bassein Rd station (today's Vasai Rd station). It was commenced on the 1st of November 1865, and consisted of one train in each direction, reportedly with just two coaches.
Soon the southern terminus was shifted further south to a temporary station called Bombay Backbay in 1866. The station would cater mainly to ballast trains, which would bring ballast from Santacruz, for the Backbay Reclamation scheme. It was a project to reclaim a portion of the Backbay, a large body of water beside today's Queen's Necklace. The company undertaking the project, The Back Bay Reclamation Company, could not reclaim all it had to, since it underwent liquidation after the end of American Civil War in 1865. It could reclaim a strip just wide enough for the BB&CIR to extend its line.
Till then, the railway began services from that temporary station at Backbay, with three trains in each direction starting from 1866. All this was soon overhauled next year, with a regular suburban service, and better systems for efficient operation.
It was on 12 April, 1867, that BB&CI began that first regular train service. Back then, besides this, there was just one mixed train, and one passenger train per day. The service ensued between Bombay Backbay station, and Viraur (Virar). I'd like to place the old names for the stations ahead. (the names though were quite liquid, and they varied from publication to publication. I'd like to use the names from the December 1923 issue of BB&CIR Magazine's article: 'The Bombay Local and Suburban Train Service'.
Actually, lets play a game. Try to identify the names of the stations yourself.(The answers will be given below). The stations on the line were as follows-
1) Bombay Backbay
2) Grant Rd
3) Dadur
4) Mahim
5) Bandora
6) Santa Cruz
7) Andaru
8) Pahadee
9) Berewla
10) Panjo
11) Bassein Rd
12) Neela
13) Viraur
Answers: (in order)- Backbay, Grant Rd, Dadar, Mahim, Bandra, Santacruz, Andheri, Goregaon (most likely!),Borivali, Panju (defunct, lay on the Panju Island between the Vasai Creeks), Vasai Rd, Nallasopara, Virar.
The train left Viraur at 6:45 a.m towards Backbay, and depart from there for the return journey by 5:30. The journey apparently took lesser time than what it takes to travel the same route today, for there were less stations. The service consisted of one train having 4 coaches, in each direction. Further on the composition, the train would comprise of three classes (Ist, IInd and IIIrd), with a Ladies only coach in the IInd class, along with a smoking zone. For this service, the fare for IInd class was 7 pies/mi, while it was 3 pies/mi for IIIrd class.
On 1 October 1867, the BB&CIR published its first Timetable, for long distance trains, which also mentioned the major suburban stations where these trains halted. The time standard opted was the then prevalent Bombay time (that was 39 mins ahead of present IST).Here's a table adapted from the book- 'Anchoring a City Line' by Rahul Mehrotra, and Sharada Dwivedi, mentioning some stations along the line, along with fares to the stations, from Grant Rd-
As per the archives, there served only one train per way from 1867 to 1870. This would have been reasonable, since the railways had still just begun such a thing, and the crowds would not have appeared, until a bit later. For one, there were no suburbs as well. But apparently, the crowds must have soon risen, and by 1870, when Churchgate station was opened as well (10th January), 5 services were commenced each way per day. Soon after this was expanded to 24 trains each day.
It was doubtless then, that the crowds grew, and the services were increased. Since Bombay city was growing, its population rose, and people began finding homes in the northern parts of the city. Bandra was one example, that turned into quite a suburb. All this was made possible by a local service, that could effectively transport the public to and fro their homes and work places. Next? Well statistics reveal that in 1888, 98,65,000 people journeyed through the suburban service.
There was no turning back from there. The BB&CI did its job well, and expanded their services as needed. Electrification was completed in the 1920s, with the first train running on 5th January 1928. 4 years post Independence, the railway was named the Western Railway. In the era of independent India, the rakes were improved, stations overhauled, services increased, and systems made better. Several problems like overcrowding faced the management, but all were resolved. Mumbai's suburban railway continues to be a lifeline it was more than a century ago, and it all began, with that humble service of April 1867.
Thanks for the scroll!
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