Lonavala to get biggest rail museum

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Lonavala (Maharashtra), September 27:: A 17-acre plot of land, now housing some residential homes and a few abandoned buildings, will soon make way for the biggest rail museum in the country which will display the historical significance and evolution of over 150-year-old Railways.

The Indian Railways is planning to build its largest Regional Rail Museum in the cool climes of the Lonavala hill station, about 120 km from Mumbai, and expects it to be ready in the next two years, a senior official said.

"A budgetary allocation of Rs 11.60 crore has been made for the work in this year's Rail Budget. Besides being the first-of-its kind in the Western region, the rail museum will be among the largest in the world," Rajesh Agrawal, Executive Director (Heritage), Ministry of Railways, said.

The proposed museum will be bigger than Delhi-based National Rail Museum which is spread over 13 acres, he said.

"The museum will be created over a landscaped area and we expect a large number of people to visit it," Agrawal added.

The museum's location was finalised at Lonavala since a large plot of land owned by Central Railways was available there and due to its proximity to Mumbai and Pune. The hill station is a popular picnic spot for people from both the cities.

"We did not want to obtain a smaller plot of land in one of the cities since it would mean compromising on the size of the museum," a Railways official said.