Elphinstone Road Station to Prabhadevi - 0 Kms

Elphinstone Road Station to Prabhadevi - 0 Kms

Next station, Elphinstone Road...oops! Prabhadevi!

Ek ticket Prabhadevi!

Isn’t this a common conversation we all hear while traveling on the BEST buses of Mumbai? The next time a co-passenger at the railway station repeats the same dialogue, don’t chide the poor fellow that such a railway station does not exist. It’s official now. Elphinstone Road station of the Western Railway route has been officially renamed as Prabhadevi.With the powers-to-be deciding to make many such name changes for railway stations and airports, Elphinstone Road too found itself staring at an identity crisis.Named after Lord Elphinstone, who was the Governor of the Mumbai (erstwhileBombay) from 1853 to 1860, this Western Railway station will now sport a brand new identity. Prabhadevi is a local deity and the area around the station carries the same name too.

With this name-change, local residents will now be able to erase frightful memories of September 29 th last year when, in a rush-hour stampede, 23 commuters lost their lives and 39 others were injured on the foot-over bridge. Long-standing demands of building a new foot-over bridge were blatantly ignored till this gruesome accident occurred and the army built a larger and spacious bridge to accommodate the humungous masses of commuters traveling through this railway station. Shiv Sena Leader Diwakar Raote had proposed this change way back in 1991 and merely 27 years later (Rather long-drawn for a simple name-change procedure?), the all-important nod from the authorities was received. Name-changes aren’t new to Mumbai with Victoria Terminus being a prime example. Roads are commonly being renamed all over the city and history is being erased left, right and centre. Ask your kaali-peeli cab driver to drive down to Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg and you will get nothing but blank stares in return. Say you want to go to Pedder Road and watch how quickly he swings into action.

Western Railway has made all the required changes in the records, railway platforms and indicators and Lord Elphinstone has been relegated to the dusty archives of Indian Railway history forever. The new station code PBHD (sounds more like a High-Definition TV variant, doesn’t it?) is also being implemented.

Let us not blame the authorities or the well-meaning local politicians for demanding the “Elphinstone to Prabhadevi” rechristening. With the blessings of the local deity, this name-change will probably ensure that there are no more rush-hour stampedes and crushing train journeys will become bearable for the fatigued commuter!

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