20 largest railway stations of India! Howrah Junction on top with 23 platforms, see complete list of the largest stations in the country

Indian Railways is called the lifeline of the country, which transports crores of passengers to their destinations every day. Many mega railway stations have been established across the country to expand the railway network and handle the heavy traffic. When it comes to the number of platforms and the capacity of trains to operate, West Bengal’s historic Howrah Junction (HWH) remains the undisputed leader in the entire country. Howrah Junction has a total of 23 functional platforms, which handle lakhs of passengers and hundreds of mail, express and suburban local trains daily.

Just after Howrah, Kolkata’s Sealdah Railway Station (SDAH) comes in second place, where there are 21 platforms. This station is considered to be the busiest station of the Kolkata Suburban Railway network. At the same time, Mumbai’s World Heritage Site Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) is at third place with 18 platforms. After this, South India’s most important railway hub MGR Chennai Central (MAS) is at fourth position with 17 platforms and the country’s capital New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS) is at fifth position with 16 platforms. All these top-5 stations have 16 or more platforms, which connect the metros of India to every corner of the country.

The status of major 20 major railway stations spread across different states of the country is given below on the basis of their station code and number of platforms:

Two big junctions jointly occupy the sixth place in the ranking—Gujarat’s. Ahmedabad Junction (ADI) and of West Bengal Kharagpur Junction (KGP)which have 12 platforms each. Kharagpur Junction has also been famous for the world’s longest railway platform for a long time.

At the eighth position in this list, six busy stations come together, each of which 10-10 platforms Are present. These include the huge industrial and railway hub of North India. Kanpur Centralreligious and administrative center Prayagraj Junctionthe major connectivity point of South India Vijayawada JunctionBihar’s busiest Patna JunctionHeadquarters of North Eastern Railway Gorakhpur Junction and the main station of Silicon Valley KSR Bengaluru City Are included.

At the 14th place are two cultural and administrative centers of Uttar Pradesh –Varanasi Junction (Cantt) And Lucknow Charbaghwhere daily rail traffic operates through 9 platforms each.

At the last positions of the list come those railway stations which have 8 platforms each, but from strategic and geographical point of view their importance is no less than any other. Known for having Asia’s largest railway marshalling yard. Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction (DDU)the central meeting point of the North-South and East-West Rail Corridors of Madhya Pradesh. Itarsi Junctioncenter of central India Nagpur JunctionHeadquarters of South East Central Railway Bilaspur Junction and important node of Mumbai suburban network Kalyan Junction Are included.

Indian Railways is currently redeveloping all these busy and large railway stations under the ‘Amrit Bharat Station Scheme’. Under this, new footover bridges, lifts, escalators, modern waiting lounges and multi-modal connectivity facilities are being added at the stations, so that passengers can get international level travel experience.