Vadodara Junction railway station (formerly Baroda City Junction, station code: BRC) is the main station in the Indian city of

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capita ...

, Gujarat. Due to its strategic location, it is the ninth-busiest railway station in India in terms of frequency of trains after

Kanpur Central Kanpur Central (formerly known as Cawnpore North Barracks, station code: CNB) is a central and junction railway station in the city of Kanpur and is one of the five central Indian railway stations. It is third busiest in country after Howrah ...

Vijayawada Junction Vijayawada Junction railway station (station code:- BZA) is an Indian Railways station in Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh, categorized as a ''Non-Suburban Grade-2 (NSG-2)'' station in Vijayawada railway division. Situated at the junction of Howra ...

, Delhi Junction,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, Ambala Cant, Howrah,

Patna Junction Patna Junction (station code PNBE) is a major railway station in the capital city of Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the main railway station serving Patna. It falls under the Danapur division of the East Central Railway zone of the In ...

and

Asansol Junction Asansol Junction railway station (station code: ASN) is a Division of Eastern Railway Zone in Asansol Sadar subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The station is on the Howrah–Delhi main line. It is th ...

and busiest in Gujarat state and as well as second important railway station in Gujarat after

Ahmedabad Junction Ahmedabad Junction railway station (station code: ADI) is the main railway station of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is also the biggest railway station within Gujarat and also one of the major railway station in India. It is the highest income ...

. It is also major stop on the

Western Railway zone The Western Railway (abbreviated WR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways and is among the busiest railway networks in India, headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Railw ...

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

. Around 170 trains start, end, or pass through the station daily. This railway station is a junction point for rail lines from Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Ektanagar (Kevadiya) and Chhota Udepur.

History

The station was built in 1861 for the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway company by then Gaekwad ruler Maharaja Khanderao. The existing building was newly constructed by

in 1954 by demolishing the original smaller station. The station celebrated 150 years of establishment on 9January 2010.

Amenities

It is a fairly large station with 6 platforms on the main line with over 250 trains halting. There are 2 foot overbridges (FOB) connecting platform 1 to 6. Platform 2, 3 and 6 has sliding ramps and platform 1 has escalators. There are two exits. One via Platform 1 that opens towards the old city (as well as

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a university in 1949 after the independence of ...

and

Central Bus Stand Central Bus Station, popularly known as Central Bus Stand, is one of the bus termini of Trichy, located near Cantonment, the other being the Chatram Bus Stand. The terminus spread over an area of is managed by the Department of Transport ...

) while the other end is towards platform 6 (that open towards the new city- Alkapuri side). Platform 6 is the longest with 704m length. A Pay & Use Toilet facility is available at Platform 6. Platform 1 has waiting room and retiring rooms as well as a refreshment canteen. Several ATM are located just outside platform 1. Platform 7 was situated ahead of platform 1 and acted as a terminus for some passenger and MEMU trains, along with facilitating the reversal of some trains, including the

Shanti Express The 19309 / 19310 Shanti Express is a daily express train offered by Western Railways in India. It runs between of Indore City in the state of Madhya Pradesh and Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. The name Shanti means 'peace' which reflects ...

and the

Gujarat Sampark Kranti Express The 12917 / 12918 ''Gujarat Sampark Kranti Express'' is one of the Sampark Kranti Expresses, a train on India's broad-gauge network, connecting Ahmedabad (code: ADI) and Delhi (code: NZM), a distance of approximately 1085 km. The train ...

, which use the Vadodara Delhi line as well as the Vadodara Ahmedabad line. It was eventually dismantled to make way for the High Speed Railway project.

Railway lines and college

The station serves three lines: the direct line between Ahmedabad and

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

;

and Chhota Udaipur and the Delhi line via

Ratlam Ratlam, known historically as Ratnapuri (lit. ''gem city''), is a city in the northwestern part of the Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh state of India. The city of Ratlam lies above sea level. It is the administrative headquarters of Ratlam di ...

, Kota and

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...

. Trains going towards the northern region use the Ratlam line while all other trains use the Ahmedabad–Mumbai line, such as the

Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per th ...

Delhi Sarai Rohilla–Bandra Terminus Garib Rath Express The 12215 / 12216 Delhi Sarai Rohilla–Bandra Terminus Garib Rath Express is a Superfast Express train of the Garib Rath category belonging to Indian Railways – Northern Railway zone that runs between and in India. It has Vadodara or Ghazi ...

, Gujarat Mail,

Karnavati Express The 12933 / 12934 Karnavati Superfast Express is one of four express trains belonging to Indian Railways that offer Chair Car services between (ADI) and (MMCT) in India. It operates as train number 12934 from Ahmedabad Junction to Mumbai Cent ...

Suryanagri Express The 12479 / 12480 Suryanagri Express is a Superfast train running between the Indian cities of Jodhpur and Bandra Terminus, Mumbai. It initially plied between Jodhpur and Ahmedabad as the 4845/46 Suryanagri Express. In the 2002/03 railway budg ...

and

Ranakpur Express The 14707 / 14708 Ranakpur Express is an express train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between and in India. It operates as train number 14707 from Bikaner to Dadar and as train number 14708 in the reverse direction. It is named after ...

. The prestigious

Mumbai Rajdhani Express 12951/12952 Mumbai Central - New Delhi - Mumbai Central Tejas Rajdhani is a semi-high-speed Fully AC Train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between (MMCT) and (NDLS) in India. It is the fastest Rajdhani service in all of India, with a ...

August Kranti Rajdhani Express The 12953 / 12954 August Kranti Tejas Rajdhani is a train that connects to in India. It is named after the August Kranti Maidan formerly known as the Gowalia Tank Maidan from where the Quit India Movement was launched in August 1942. On 1 ...

Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani Express The 12431 / 12432 Hazrat Nizamuddin–Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani Express is a Rajdhani Express train service in India, connecting in the country capital New Delhi to , the capital of Kerala state. It is the longest-running Rajdhani Express t ...

Golden Temple Mail The 12903 / 12904 Golden Temple Mail is a Mail train belonging to Indian Railways that runs daily between (MMCT) in Maharashtra and (ASR) in Punjab. It is named after the famous Golden Temple at Amritsar. The train is running with modern L ...

and

Avantika Express The 12961 / 12962 Avantika Superfast Express is a Superfast train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between and in India. It is a daily service. It operates as train number 12961 from Mumbai Central to Indore and as train number 12962 i ...

amongst others also halt at this station. The Railway Staff College is the ''alma mater'' for Officers of Indian Railways. It is situated in a sprawling campus of of garden and wooded land in the Pratap Vilas Palace (built in 1914) at Lalbaug, Vadodara. It provides training to all levels of Indian railway officers, from probationers to general managers. The college was founded in 1930 at Dehradun and then shifted to its present sylvan surroundings at Vadodara in 1952. Pratap Vilas Palace is surrounded by lush green lawns and was designed by C. F. Stevens in the Renaissance style. The property was purchased from the Gaekwads, the erstwhile rulers of Vadodara and is home to peacocks and migratory birds.

Electric Loco Shed

Vadodara Electric Loco Shed has one of the largest electric loco sheds in the Western Railway zone. The shed houses more than 130 locomotives, which include

WAP-4 The Indian locomotive class WAP-4 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1993 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic (P) ...

WAP-5 The Indian locomotive class WAP-5 is the name of a class of "High Speed" electric locomotives produced and used by Indian Railways. The first 10 locomotives were imported from ABB in Switzerland in 1995. They are supposed to be a variant of th ...

WAP-7 The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...

WAM-4 The Indian locomotive class WAM-4 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1970 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), mixed traffic ( ...

(now condemned or withdrawn) and

WAG-5 The Indian locomotive class WAG-5 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1978 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), goods traffic ( ...

(now transferred to other sheds) locomotives. Additionally it had an AC electric trip shed to house locos coming from other sheds and an AC/DC dual loco trip shed which houses the WCAM Class locomotives from Valsad shed and which allows locomotive changes at Vadodara because the trains which were coming from New Delhi mainline are AC Locomotives and the trains going to Mumbai need AC/DC Loco. Until 2011,

was under DC supply from before

Borivali Borivali (Pronunciation: oːɾiʋəliː is a suburb and is located at the north-western end of Mumbai and has a large Gujarati population followed by others. Traditionally the tribals and East Indians lived in Borivali. The attractions incl ...

when the Western Railway in Mumbai changed over to the AC system in February 2012, the WCAM locos have been transferred to the

Kalyan Kalyan (Pronunciation: əljaːɳ is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) of Thane district ...

shed. It is currently holds 10+

, 60+

and 130+

locomotive respectively. It also has a

MEMU On Indian Railways, the MEMUs are electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that serve short and medium-distance routes in India, as compared to normal EMU trains that connect urban and suburban areas. The acronym stands for Mainline Electric Multiple ...

car shed which houses the Mainline Electric Multiple units which provides feeder services to Ahmedabad, Surat,

Dahod Dahod is a city on the banks of the Dudhimati River in Dahod District in the State of Gujarat, India. It is said that it has taken its name from Saint Dadhichi, who had an Ashram on the bank of Dudhumati river. The city serves as District ...

and

Godhra Godhra is a municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from ''gou'' which means "cow" and ''dhara''- which have two meanings dependi ...

Trains

The following major trains start from Vadodara Junction railway station: * 22929/30 Vadodara–Bhilad Superfast Express (now extended to ) * 19035/36 Vadodara–Ahmedabad Intercity Express * 12927/28 Vadodara–Mumbai Central Express (now extended to ) * 20903/04 Vadodara–Varanasi Mahamana Express (now extended to ) * 20905/06 Vadodara–Rewa Mahamana Express (now extended to ) * 12929/30 Vadodara-Valsad Intercity express * 12959/60 Vadodara-Jamnagar Intercity express

Gallery

File:Vadodara Junction.jpg, Vadodara Junction File:Rajkot Express at Vadodara railway station1.jpg, Passengers wait next to the Rajkot Express at Vadodara station File:Valsad Vadodara Intercity SF Express.jpg, alt= File:Vjrail.jpg, alt=, Railway station new building

References

{{Top 100 booking stations of Indian Railways Railway stations in Vadodara district Vadodara railway division Railway junction stations in Gujarat Transport in Vadodara Buildings and structures in Vadodara Railway stations opened in 1861 1861 establishments in British India