Mumbai's Elphinstone Road station renamed to Prabhadevi: Interesting facts

Pic/AFP

Mumbai's Elphinstone Road Station on the Western Railway (WR) line will now be known as Prabhadevi station with effect from midnight of 18th July 2018. The move comes in almost a year after the Centre approved the change of name which was made by local Member of Parliament Rahul Shewale. From henceforth the ‘Then'Elphinstone Road station will ‘Now ‘be called Prabhadevi station, the station code for Prabhadevi will be PBHD! We look at some interesting facts about the station.

Interesting facts about Elphinstone Road station

• The Elphinstone Road station was named after Lord Elphinstone who had taken over as the then Governor of Bombay in 1853 (1853-1860), the year railways were introduced in India.
• The station came up in 1867 and has only two platforms where only slow train halts, catering to the slow line services of the suburban railway section of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.
• John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone, and 1st Baron Elphinstone was a Scottish soldier, politician and colonial administrator.
• During Lord Elphinstone's governorship in Bombay, the Mutiny of 1857 broke out and he discovered a conspiracy in the city and tried to control it.
• Prabhadevi is the name of a local area in the vicinity of the area and traces its root to the 300-year-old temple of the Prabhadevi deity that exists over here.
• It is believed that Prabhadevi was the capital of Raja Bhimdev who ruled the islands of Mumbai in the 12th Century and it is him who has built the Prabhadevi temple.

On December 16, 2016, the legislative assembly had passed a resolution to renameElphinstone Road station to Prabhadevi station. The renaming was first proposed by Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Raote back in 1991. But the renaming got the nod from the centre only in May 2017. On July 4, 2017, the Western Railway issued a notification proposing the change of name from Elphinstone to Prabhadevi station. But after theElphinstone Roadstampede tragedy had taken place, the renaming was postponed following criticisms.

"The change of name will not alter the history of the station and Lord Elphinstone. The station had been named after Lord Elphinstone who had taken over as Governor of Bombay in 1853, the year railways were formally introduced in India. Railways in India were introduced in Bombay and he was the Bombay Governor and this was the strongest connection that his name had been given to a railway station. He remained Governor till 1860. John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstoneand1st Baron Elphinstone was a Scottish soldier, politician and colonial administrator. During his Bombay governorship, the Mutiny of 1857 broke out and he discovered a conspiracy in the city and tried to control it. The deity Prabhadevi also has its own importance as the area is locally known as Prabhadevi, after the temple that was first established by Raja Bimba in13thcentury!" says Rajendra Aklekar, Author of two books on trains and railways in India.

Changing British Era Names

Just a few days ago the Central Railway (CR) rechristened the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Earlier, last year Shiv Sena had sought renaming of a number of railway stations. They demanded that the Currey Road station be named as Lalbaugh, Sandhurst Road station as Dongri, Reay Road as Ghodapdeo, Cotton Green as Kalachowki, Mumbai Central as Nana Chowk, Grant Road as Gaondevi, and the popular Dadar station as Chaityabhoomi.