Our previous visit to Victoria Terminus had been from the “business-end” – arriving on an overnight train from Aurangabad in 1996. The site wasn’t WHS-inscribed at the time and we were more concerned with the logistics of an unplanned early morning arrival into teeming Bombay (getting a taxi, finding a hotel etc) than in admiring the architecture – although its general grandeur was noticed as we passed through!! So, on our first return since its inscription in 2004, we made a special visit to see what we might have missed.

As other reviewers have noted, there is not a great deal to see beyond the exterior. The original Booking Hall, known as “The Star Chamber” because of its marble gothic columns and archways, is impressive but, in all honesty, seemed to us a bit “small” in comparison with the size and importance of the entire structure. Of course Indian railways and their passenger numbers have grown significantly since the original station was started in. 1878 Originally the station was built with just 4 (or 5?) platforms and another station (not within the inscribed area) was built alongside in 1929 with another 12 or so. Today this “new” station handles long distance trains with the “old” station and its booking office handling suburban commuter services. Beyond the booking hall the platform and concourse areas behind the main building still contain some fine wrought iron work. Otherwise one can only try to pick up the detail of the exterior decoration (Photo). The Indian references and their inclusion in an overall Indo-Saracenic style are after all what makes this station different from other Italian Gothic structures elsewhere in the World. British visitors will always be reminded of London’s St Pancras Station of course and the Nomination File includes numerous sections on why Victoria Terminus is superior to/different from it..

The main entrance from Victorian days is now securely guarded and leads only to the railway offices past several signs advertising the site’s WHS status and some attractive gardens. One can only guess at what lies beyond – the nomination file provides a few glimpses of e.g a massive “Banqueting Hall” (originally the “Waiting room”) and the staircase with a wonderful view up into the Dome. It also states that the building, originally designed for 680 users, now contains 1800 (The building was always designed both as a station and as the Head Office of the Railway Company)! Mention is made of corridors having been taken over as work areas - and there is a wonderful photo of a number of clerks sitting at a desk which itself contains a pile of papers, but is overshadowed by a mountain of files reaching to the ceiling behind. This is described as an example of a “fire hazard”!!

The nomination file includes a massive section concerning the amount of conservation and restoration which needs to be carried out – so much that one is slightly surprised that ICOMOS/UNESCO didn’t require at least some of it to be completed before inscription. But so many Indian Nomination files contain fine expositions of what needs to be done and relatively little about what has already been accomplished! One future plan shows a Visitors’ Entrance, an Information Centre and Cafés (indoor and outdoor!!) Finally there are to be a Railway Museum and Archive Library!! One suspects that these will remain an unfulfilled “dream” for many years – until then one just has to be satisfied with the glimpses on view.