Reportage: Archana Masih
Photograph: Jewella C Miranda

When Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, then Victoria Terminus, was completed in 1888 it approximately cost what a Honda SUV would cost today.

Rs 16.36 lakhs.

116 years on, just look at it and it'll take your breath away. Then dwarf you by its grandeur.

That's the power of CST.

Or VT as we popularly know it.

The exquisite train terminus is Mumbai's grandest landmark. Engineered by an Englishman who was born a hundred years before India's Independence in 1947, it is an enduring symbol of pride for residents of this frenetic metro.

Eight years ago Victoria Terminus was renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji after the revered Maratha warrior Shivaji.

The boards were repainted, tickets reprinted and a bust of Shivaji placed by the elegant staircase in the administrative building.

From VT, it was rechristened CST.

On July 2, it was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Once home to the Great Indian Peninsular Railway -- which was renamed Central Railway -- the then makeshift railway station flagged the country's first train from VT to Thana in April 1853.

Today, 1,080 suburban or 'local' trains arrive and depart from this station every day.