Delhi Junction railway station

Delhi Junction
पुरानी दिल्ली रेलवे स्टेशन
Indian Railway Station
Location Between Chandni Chowk and Kashmiri Gate (Delhi)
 India
Coordinates 28°39′40″N 77°13′40″E / 28.6610°N 77.2277°E / 28.6610; 77.2277Coordinates: 28°39′40″N 77°13′40″E / 28.6610°N 77.2277°E / 28.6610; 77.2277
Elevation 218.760 metres (717.72 ft)
Platforms 16
Other information
Station code DLI
Zone(s) Northern Railways
Division(s) Delhi railway division
History
Opened 1864
Rebuilt 1903
Electrified 1967
Location
Delhi Junction
Location within Delhi

Delhi Junction, also known as Old Delhi Railway Station (station code DLI), is the oldest railway station of Delhi city and a Junction station. It was established near Chandni Chowk in 1864 when trains from Howrah, Calcutta started operating up to Delhi. Its present building was constructed by the British Indian government in the style of nearby red-coloured fort and opened in 1903. It has been an important railway station of the country, and preceded the New Delhi Railway Station by about 60 years. Chandni Chowk underground station of the Delhi Metro is near it.

History

The station started with a broad gauge train from Calcutta in 1864. Metre gauge track from Delhi to Rewari and further to Ajmer was laid in 1873 by Rajputana State Railway and metre gauge trains from this station started in 1876.

The present building of the station was built in 1900 and opened for public in 1903. Started with just 2 platforms and 1000 passengers, Delhi Railway Station now handles more than 180,000 passengers and 200 trains daily.

In 1904 the Agra-Delhi line was opened. Delhi then was a part of six railway systems. East Indian Railway, North-Western Railway, and Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway entered from Ghaziabad crossing the Yamuna river. Delhi - Ambala Cantonment - Kalka Railway ran northwards from Delhi, and the Rajputana-Malwa Railway traversed the Delhi district for a short distance in the direction of Gurgaon and Rewari Junction.[1]

Old Delhi Junction
Delhi railway station

Delhi Railway Station was built in red stone to give the effect of nearby historic Red Fort. The station building had six clock towers and tower 4 is still in use as a water tank.

This station served as the main station of Delhi, hosting junction of four railways until the opening of New Delhi Railway Station in 1926 ahead of the inauguration of the New Delhi city in 1931. Agra-Delhi railway track cut through the site earmarked for the hexagonal War Memorial (now called India Gate) and Kingsway (now called Rajpath). East Indian Railway Company shifted the line along the Yamuna river and opened the new track in 1924.

The station was remodelled in 1934–35, when its platforms were extended and power signals were introduced.[2][3] A new entrance from Kashmere Gate side was created in 1990s and new platforms were added. The platforms were renumbered in September 2011. The numbers that started from Kashmere Gate entrance as 1A and ended at 18 near the main entrance were renumbred starting as 1 from the main entrance and ending at 16 at Kashmere Gate entrance and some platforms were merged to form long platforms to accommodate trains of 24 coaches.[4] The station building is being renovated in 2012-13.

Junction

Railways around Delhi

Legend
Yamuna
to Delhi-Kalka line
to Delhi-Shamli-Saharanpur line
to Delhi-Fazilka line
204 Delhi
198 Delhi Shahdara
196 Vivek Vihar
Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border
191 Sahibabad
184 Ghaziabad
195 New Delhi
194 Shivaji Bridge
192 Tilak Bridge
Chander Nagar
190 Pragati Maidan
Anand Vihar Terminal
188 Hazrat Nizamuddin
NH2
to Delhi-Meerut-Saharanpur line
to Delhi-Moradabad line
to Agra Chord
to Kanpur-Delhi section

Source: Google maps

Railway lines from five directions connect at the Delhi Railway Station:

  1. From the east ....... (Ghaziabad and Shahdara):
    1. Delhi - Howrah line via Tundla, Kanpur and Allahabad
    2. Delhi - Saharanpur line via Meerut
    3. Delhi - Saharanpur line via Baghpat; and
    4. Delhi- Moradabad line via Hapur that goes further to Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar North Bengal and Guwahati.
  2. From the north ....... (Ambala Cantonment): Tracks from Kalka, Amritsar and Udhampur via Ambala Cantonment.
  3. From the northwest ....... (Kishanganj and Shakurbasti): Tracks from Firozpur, Bhatinda, Ludhiana, Sirsa and Rohtak through Dhuri and Jakhal junctions.
  4. From the southwest ....... (Sarai Rohilla): Tracks from Haryana (Hisar and Bhiwani), Rajasthan (Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Barmer and Hanumangarh) and Gujarat (Palanpur junction and Ahmedabad) - all of them via Rewari railway junction.
  5. From the south ....... (Okhla and Nizamuddin): Tracks from Mathura Junction that further go to Central India, East India, South India, Gujarat, Mumbai and Pune.

Samjhauta Express departs from this station to Lahore, Pakistan.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Delhi District: Trade and communications". The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. 11. Oxford at Clarendon Press. 1909. p. 229.
  2. ↑ "A fine balance of luxury and care". Hindustan Times. 21 July 2011.
  3. ↑ "When Railways nearly derailed New Delhi". Hindustan Times. 18 January 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/confusion-after-old-delhi-railway-station-reverses-order-of-platforms/842151/
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