Arup Chatterjee's book, The Great Indian Railways, is not just about Indian Railways. It is about how the railways are deeply embedded in the psyche of the Indian mind and how railway premises in India are a reflection of the society. Among the several books presently on the subject in India, some on history, some specialised, statistical, anecdotal, archival documentation or simply photographic, this book, now into its second edition, fills up the vacuum of railways' cultural contribution to the society by comprehensively chronologically documenting how the railways, as the author puts it "with or without our knowing, have come to define manifold aspects of Indian culture".

And it begins with a perfect example on how one of the author's grandfathers as someone originally from Benares — although a Bengali — used to keep his homesickness away, simply by visiting the railway station. "During his lunch hour, each day, he would visit Howrah Station and wait for the train from Benares, if only to catch of a glimpse of the people arriving from his hometown and return with a spring in his step."