According to a press release issued by WR CPRO Sumit Thakur, WR has achieved many milestones, since its beginning. Western Railway came into existence on 5th November 1951 by the merger of its forerunner, the erstwhile Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI), with other State Railways viz, Saurashtra, Rajputana, and Jaipur. The BB&CI Railway was inaugurated in 1855, starting with the construction of a 29-mile broad gauge track from Ankleshwar to Utran in Gujarat state on the West Coast with Surat as its headquarters then. Later that year on 21st November 1855 the Company has concluded an agreement with the East India Company to construct a railway line from Surat to Baroda and Ahmedabad. Another contract was signed to start a line from Utran (north of Surat) to Bombay to ensure a plentiful supply of cotton grown in Gujarat coming into the western port. Work commenced on the line in the following year & the line from Utran to Grant Road station in Bombay was offic

Author-Shlok Talati