Bhandup railway station

Bhandup is a railway station on the Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network. A few fast trains stop at Bhandup station, mostly during the peak hours. Bhandup station is in close proximity to Kanjurmarg railway station, with a travel time of approximately 3 minutes or a distance of around 2 kilometers by train. It has 7 tracks in total, of which 3 are outside the station and 4 are inside. Platform 1 serves slow Thane- going trains only, Platform 2 serves slow CSMT- going trains only. Platform 3 and 4 are the same but for slow and fast trains, and some semi-high speed locals. The 3 tracks on the side are used for parking express trains and also for express trains and goods trains to pass.

History
Bhandup's relationship with trains goes back to the very earliest times, for it was during a visit to Bhandup in 1843 that George Clark, Chief Engineer to the Bombay Government, first had the idea of linking Mumbai to Thane by railway. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company ran its first train on 16 April 1853, with Bhandup apparently as one of the stations. Bhandup was mentioned on the timetable of the company, that was published in The Bombay Times (now The Times of India) on 8th April 1853, suggesting Bhandup as one of the earliest stations on the line. The first train of India which ran in Bombay, stopped at Bhandup for a water tank refill.

A scan (low res) of the 8th April 1853 issue. Bhandup can be seen in the first two timetables.