Delhi home to 46 rly stations; 13 of them to get a makeover

New Delhi: Although most people are familiar with the names of only five or six railway stations that are majorly used in the national capital, Delhi is home to 46 big and small stations.

Most of these railway stations are on the brink of elimination. However, the Ministry of Railways will reconstruct around a dozen of them under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.A total of 13 stations including Adarsh Nagar, Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Old Delhi, Delhi Cantt., Sarai Rohilla, Shahdara, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Narela, New Delhi, Sabzi Mandi, Safdarjung and Tilak Bridge will be rebuilt under this scheme.

Out of the 46, Old Delhi is the only central station, through which many railway lines spread in different directions like Panipat, Rohtak, Rewari, Mathura and Ghaziabad among others.

The Rewari line was earlier a metre gauge railway line, which has now been converted into broad gauge. Also, the lines to Mathura, Ghaziabad, Ambala and Rohtak have been electrified up to Shakur Basti. Bypass lines and ring line have also been electrified. A line has also been opened from Shahdara towards Shamli. Along with this, a line from the Ring Railway in Delhi starts from Nizamuddin and joins the Rewari line at Patel Nagar, before further connecting to the Rohtak line at Daya Basti. Apart from these, there are two bypass lines -- Nizamuddin-Ghaziabad bypass and Daya Basti-Azadpur bypass. Usually goods trains pass through the latter.

Most of the trains going towards Punjab depart from Old Delhi (DLI) or New Delhi (NDLS) stations. Similarly, South Zone trains run from New Delhi or Hazrat Nizamuddin station. Eastbound trains depart from Old Delhi, New Delhi and Anand Vihar Terminal. Trains to Rajasthan start from Old Delhi, New Delhi or Sarai Rohilla (DEE) stations.