Inspired by an aerial photograph of the grand Mumbai CSMT station building and complex taken by an Englishman AR Haseler in the 1930s, the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) have got the French Railways to design a ‘Heritage Square’ masterplan for the station. The IRSDC team met Central Railway officials with the plan on Tuesday.

Describing the plan, the AREP (Amenagement, Recherche, Pole d'Echanges) or simply Management, Research & Interchange, a multidisciplinary consultancy wholly owned by SNCF, the French National Railways stated that the idea was to create a multimodal hub for suburban passengers in the heritage station and releasing it from long-distance trains and managing the people flow outside the original Steven’s building.