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Railways In Gujarat

The Western Railways which is a division of the Indian Railways has the state of Gujarat under its jurisdiction. The Ahmedabad Railway Station, Surat Railway Station, Vadodara Railway Station and Rajkot Railway Station are the major railway stations of the state. It is being contemplated by the Indian Railways that a Delhi Mumbai Itinerary moving across the state of Gujarat should be laid down. There is also a proposal of a Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Passenger Corridor which will cover the states of Maharastra and Gujarat by the government. The Vadodara Railway Station being the busiest railway junction in the State is the 4th busiest railway junction in the entire nation. This station connects Delhi and Mumbai and lies on the Western Railway Mainline.

The railways in Gujarat provide a fast, economical and simple means of transport both for goods as well as passengers. The main cities of Gujarat are connected to the metropolitan in India. The major rail routes may be categorized as follows:

Broad Gauge
Meter Gauge
Narrow Gauge

Major Railway Station in Gujarat

Ahmedabad Railway Station

Gujarat’s main railway station is the Ahmedabad Railway Station which is also the biggest as well as the busiest railway station within the State. Apart from Mumbai Division, the Ahmedabad Railway Station is the second highest income-generating division in the Western Railways.

A new initiative that has been introduced by the Ahmedabad Railway Station is the hand push luggage trolley service which otherwise is available only at the airports. Initially a sum of Rs. 5/- per luggage trolley will be charged from the travelers by the Railways and at present, for the time being this service is available only for platform no. 1. However, once the new elevators and escalators start functioning by the end of this year, the said trolley service shall be introduced in all the platforms of the Railway Station of Ahmedabad.

Anand Railway Station

In Anand, Gujarat is situated a major junction known as the Anand Railway Station. Connecting Ahmedabad with Vadodara and Mumbai, this junction was initiated in the year 1901. In the year 1929, a 14 mile long Broad Guage line was started which connected Vadtai with Anand and Boriavi and benefitted the pilgrims visiting the Swaminarayan Temple in Vadtai. There are other Broad Guage branches from Anand that link it to Godhra and Cambay.

In the year 2011 was proclaimed by the Indian Railways, its objective to set-up a “multi-function complex” together with budget hotels at the Anand Railway Station.

Rajkot Railway Station

The main railway station in the city of Rajkot in Gujarat is the Rajkot Railway Station which is also known as the Rajkot Junction. This Railway Station is within the jurisdiction of the Western Railways zone of the Indian Railways and is the primary terminus for rail transport in the city. The Bhaktinagar Railway Station is the other railway station in Rajkot.

The Rajkot Railway Station is located on the Ahemadabad Hepa Broad Guage line and is linked to the Viramgam-Okha rail-route by a Broad Guage line. To the west, 88 kilometers (55 miles) away is the major railhead at Jamnagar. It is a junction for Somnath-Viramgam and Okha-Rajkot branch lines of the Western Railways.

There are available enquiry counters, reservation halls, tea stalls, ice-cream stalls and cold drinking water facilities at the station. Besides, it has an ATM which is run by the State bank of Saurashtra and also an electronic reservation system available.

A comprehensive automation and infrastructure development of the station is going on along with making available a cybercafe, additional ATMs, vending machines, a cafeteria and waiting rooms. Also in progress is the work of doubling of the Rajkot-Viramgam route, which is likely to augment the number of daily trains as well as the traffic. It is also expected that in the near future the route shall be made electrical.

Of late, a lift connecting the platform nos. 1, 2 and 3 has been constructed.

Surat Railway Station

Surat, the second largest city of Gujarat has the Surat Railway Station offering its services to it apart from other railway stations in the city namely Gotahngam, Kosad, Uttran, Udhan Junction, Bhestan, Niol and Sachin Railway Stations. After Mumbai of the Mumbai Division, Western Railways, the Surat Railway Station is the 2nd most earning railway station. This station is also under the administrative control and jurisdiction of the Western Railway zone of the Indian Railways and is located on the Ahmedabad RailwayStation-Vadodara-Mumbai rail route. It was built in the year 1860 and is connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kanpur, Nagpur and all the major stations in India by several trains like Jaipur Superfast Express, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Shatabdi Express, Karnavati Express, Paschim Express, Surat-Bandra Express, Indore - Mumbai Avantika Express, Indore - Pune Express, Indore - Surat Express, August Kranti Rajdhani Express.

The station has Advance Railway Ticketing System installed thereat for issuance of unreserved tickets in advance. Besides, also is available therein, a Voice Response System (VRS). As one moves towards the North, the nearest railhead is the Uttran Railway Station and towards the South of Surat is the Udhna Junction Railway Station.

There is an ATM of the Axis Bank and also ATMs of some other Banks inside the Surat Railway Station. Situated on the 1st floor thereof is the Food Express Restaurant which is open round the clock. The City Bus Terminal is outside the station which can be accessed to visit the suburbs and the important areas of the city. Some nearby sites worth visiting are: the Sardar Patel Museum, the Textile Market and the Dutch Garden.

Vadodara Railway Station

The main railway station of the Vadodara city in Gujarat is the Vadodara Railway Station. Not only is it the busiest Railway Station of the State rather also one of the busiest stations of India. A major stop on the western railway zone of the Indian railways, the Vadodara Station has 2 railway lines: a direct line connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai and another line connecting Ahmedabad and New Delhi through Kota, Ratlam and Mathura.

The Ratlam line is used by trains departing towards the northern region while rest of the trains such as the Ahmedabad Shatabdi, Gujarat Mail, Suryanagari Express, Delhi Sarai Rohilla Garib Rath, Karnavati Express, Ranakpur Express, Mumbai Rajdhani, Trivandrum Rajdhani , Avantika Express, August Kranti Rajdhani, Golden Temple Mail etc. use the Ahmedabad-Mumbai line.

One of the biggest electric loco sheds of Western Railway zone is at Vadodara which contains more than 130 locomotives including WAP-4, WAG-5 and WAM-4 locomotives. Furthermore, Vadodara also has a shed for AC electric trip which harbours locos that arrive from other sheds. It also has a shed for AC/DC dual loco trip which harbours WCAM class locomotives coming from Valsad shed which facilitates required change of locomotive at Vadodara. Change in locomotive is required for the AC locomotive trains that are taking the New Delhi mainline route and the trains departing towards Mumbai require AC/DC locomotive because Mumbai supplies DC till Borivali.

There is also a shed for MEMU car in the Vadodara Railway Station which harbours multiple units of Mainline Electric which provide feeder services to Surat, Ahmedabad, Godhra and Dahod.