What was the name of the train station where Mahatma Gandhi was ejected from a first-class carriage in 1893?

Mahatma Gandhi was ejected from a first-class carriage at Pietermaritzburg station in 1893.

Gandhi was travelling from Durban to Pretoria with a valid first-class ticket when a white passenger objected to his presence. Railway officials ordered him to move to the van compartment. When he refused, they removed him from the train at Pietermaritzburg during the night.

Gandhi later recalled spending the night in the station’s waiting room, where he considered returning to India. Instead, he decided to remain in South Africa and challenge the discrimination faced by Indians. The incident became one of the best-known turning points in accounts of his political development.

The event occurred in the then colony of Natal, not in India. Pietermaritzburg is the capital of KwaZulu-Natal today. Gandhi experienced other discriminatory incidents during the same journey, including being assaulted after refusing to give up a coach seat, but those happened at different locations.