Western Railway (WR) in Mumbai plans to open its own ‘Glass Cathedral’ — the new-look and swanky Churchgate station glass house — to coincide with the cricket World cup matches that will be held a few metres away from the historic rail terminus.
Like the Germans opened Europe’s biggest glass station at Berlin to commemorate the ceremonial opening of the football world cup, Western Railway (WR) in Mumbai plans to open its own ‘Glass Cathedral’ — the new-look and swanky Churchgate station glass house — to coincide with the cricket World cup matches that will be held a few metres away from the historic rail terminus.
The Hauptbahnhof, also known as the “Glass Cathedral”, had opened in Berlin in 2006 just in time for Germany’s World Cup. DNA had first reported on December 25 that Churchgate was getting a corporate look. The towering station is being converted into one with a glass facade and aluminum sheets. The upgrade will cost Rs2 crore.
“We will try and finish it by the time of the matches, so a new Churchgate station can welcome the World Cup,” Sharad Chandrayan, WR chief spokesperson, said.
The traffic police and the civic authorities too have begun making detailed parking plans and arrangements for the World Cup matches, including the finals that would be held at Wankhede stadium along the rail lines in the close vicinity of the terminus that sees more than seven lakh passengers per day and trains every three minutes.
“Churchgate has a glorious history. The original station, a small structure with thatched roof, in the 1920s used to have a level-crossing across the road and the lines went further ahead to Colaba. In the 1930s, Colaba was closed with the cutting down of railway lines. Churchgate was then re-modelled as a terminus in 1933. The existing seven storey-station building was built in 1957 and not much has changed since then,” a senior official said.
WR officials said they had received requests from cricket fans, who asked permission to photograph the Wankhede stadium from the roof-top of the seven-storey station building.
“We need to check if one can actually see the stadium from our roof-top. After that, we will take a decision whether to allow it or not,” a senior WR official said.
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