Rajendra B. Aklekar (born 1974) is an Indian author and a journalist with interests in railway history, public transport & infra, archiving & documentation and also a trained museologist. He has been a working journalist with nearly 30 years’ experience reporting on Mumbai’s public transport and infrastructure. He is presently with Mid-Day Mumbai as Deputy City Editor, and author of best-selling books on India’s railway history, heritage and trains. He is also the biographer of India’s legendary railway engineer Dr E Sreedharan.

Winner of the 2024 Alfa Awards in the Literature category organised by Alfa Communications, recipient of the Ashtagandha Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 and the ‘Best Author’ in history and travel category of the Indian Author Awards 2021 organised by the Navi Mumbai Chamber of Business and Industry, his first book with Rupa Publications ‘Halt Station India’ was also short-listed at Bengaluru Literary Festival 2015 for best ‘Non-Fiction of the Year’. The book was also presented a Special Mention Award at the 6th National Convention (2015-16) of the Konkan Itihaas Parishad.

With training from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, Aklekar is also certified in museology and has contributed significantly while setting up the Rail Heritage Gallery at the UNESCO-listed Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station, formerly Victoria Terminus building, Bombay and documentation of heritage relics of India’s first railway.

He is also the author of officially published history narrative and coffee table books of Western Railway, Konkan Railway and the B.E.S.T undertaking in Mumbai.

Being a journalist for over 30 years, he has worked in numerous prominent print publications, including The Daily, The Sunday Observer, Hindustan Times, DNA, Mumbai Mirror, Mid-Day, with by-lines in several Marathi publications and prominent websites too. He had been a regular weekly columnist with England’s rail news website RailTube. Aklekar, associated with the Indian Railway Fans’ Club Association, Indian Steam Railway Society, Rail Enthusiasts Society and the Asiatic Society in Mumbai.

His first book Halt Station India- The Dramatic Tale of the Nation’s First Rail Lines (Rupa 2015), released by India’s Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, was about the story of India’s first railway line in Mumbai. The book chronicles the dramatic rise of India’s original rail network, the arrival of the first train, and the subsequent emergence of a pioneering electric line—all in the port city of Bombay. The book was shortlisted at the Bangalore Literature Festival 2015 as best Non-Fiction (English).

This book has also been translated into Marathi by prominent Pune-based publisher Mehta Publishing House.

His second book India’s Railway Man- A Biography of Dr E Sreedharan, (5) also released by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu (Rupa 2017) is the biography of India’s prominent railway engineer Dr E Sreedharan. The biography has been endorsed by Dr Sreedharan personally with a signed note in it. It documents his life story on how this iconic railway man got about building the Konkan Railway along India’s western coast on an extremely difficult terrain to how he introduced the culture of urban Metro rail in India.

This book has also been translated into Marathi by prominent Pune-based publisher Mehta Publishing House.

His next book with Rupa Publications (June 2019) ‘A Short History of Indian Railways’ is a lighter read weaving together anecdotes from 1830s to 2019, taking the reader on a thrilling ride of over two centuries on an ‘express’ time machine. It has been received well by readers.

His another online book ‘The Great Indian Railway Romance’ is a compilation of his weekly news update column that used to appear online on England-based RailTube website.

He has also written a book narrating the story of Konkan Railway officially published by the Konkan Railway. Another book the BEST Story book, is about the history of the BEST in Mumbai officially published by the undertaking in 2022. His latest book is The Lines of Prosperity, the history of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (BB&CIR), officially published by Western Railway in 2024. A few other books on transport history have also been published.