Mumbai: This Sunday, light and sound show at CSMT

The CSMT building will be converted into a theatre on Sunday to mark the 170th year of the Indian Railways and World Heritage Day The heritage precinct will turn into a cultural zone with a lightandsound and artistic show with dancers gracing every arch of the building amid highprofile Padma dignitaries invited for the eventThe event will take place on April 17 while the 107th birthday of the Indian Railways is on April 16 and World Heritage Day is on April 18Artistes prepare for the show at CSMT buildingAnil Kumar Lahoti general manager Central Railway said that CSMT is a pride of Indian Railways and the entire railway fraternity ldquoTo celebrate the heritage and architecture of this building we are staging a unique lightandsound cum performance show on the background of this buildingrdquo he saidlsquoEk gatha CSMT kirsquoThe show called lsquoNavarasangamndashek gatha CSMT kirsquo will depict nine rasas of natyashashtra bringing out the different emotions based on various historical episodes of the history of CSMT building Railways and the country ldquoIt showcases the Indian cultural canvas by 70 artistes who are railway employees The original audio track has also been created by a team of railway artists The production has been prepared after rigorous rehearsals and professional inputs from the fields of lights music creation and studio recording The artists would be performing under the aegis of Central Railway Cultural Academyrdquo said Shivaji Sutar chief public relations officer Central RailwayIn addition the 134yearold CSMT building will be lit up with around 1100 lights Around 450 lights had dimmed over the years which have been replaced with new technology LED lightsldquoThe first train in Asia ran between Mumbai and Thane on Saturday April 16 1853 Indian Railways will enter its 170th year of service on April 16 To commemorate the first journey of Railways in India and lsquoAzadi ka Amrit Mahotsavrsquo and commemorating the Railway Week Central Railway is presenting a unique light and sound cum performance show on the CSMT heritage buildingmdasha UNESCO Heritage Siterdquo he addedEvolution over the yearsThe presentday headquarters building of Central Railway popularly known as Victoria Terminus now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus is an architectural marvel This gothic style monument was originally planned as the office of GIP Railway and was designed by Frederick William Stevens a consulting architect The construction started in 1878 and was completed in 1888 at a cost of R1613863 The building which was the largest building in Asia at the time was named after Queen VictoriaThe first important modification came in 1929 The former station which adjoined it was reserved for suburban traffic and used to have 6 platforms In March 1929 Governor Sir Frederick Sykes opened the remodelled station with 13 platformsWith the increase in suburban passenger traffic the first double discharge platform was provided in May 1990 and by January 1991 all the suburban platforms were made double discharge Further additions were made in February 1994 by bringing the number of platforms to 15In March 1996 the station was renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus The building was listed as a world Heritage monument by UNESCO in July 2004 for being an outstanding example of late 19th Century architecture With a view to accommodate 24 coach trains platforms 16 to 18 were constructed in September 2007 In the same year in July the station was again renamed with the addition of Maharajmdashbringing it to its present name Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj TerminusToday the station caters to about 48 pairs of longdistance trains and about 1200 suburban trains daily1888Year the building construction was completed