Lucknow Charbagh railway station

History

On 23 April 1867, the 47 mile Lucknow-Kanpur section was opened for traffic. This became part of the Oudh Rohilkhand Railway. The present Lucknow division, in 1925 was part of East Indian Railway till 1952. It caters to the Rail transport requirement of the most populous state of the country, serving 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh, with a total route of 1,458.94 km (906.54 mi), through 194 stations.

Lucknow's Charbagh Railway Station, till 1867, was a large orchard. The present Station building was constructed in 1926 with domes and minars of Saracan design, intended to harmonise with the architecture peculiar to the important historical buildings to the city which date to the days of the Nawabs of Oudh. The building constructed in red brick has a frontage of long verandahs adorned with Mughal arches. It is situated at Charbagh in the south of the city, hence the popular name. The words 'Char Bagh' refer to the four gardens which existed here earlier. Lucknow city is well connected with all metro and other important cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Jammu Tawi, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Pune, Jaipur and Bhopal either by Lucknow Charbagh (N.R.) or by Lucknow Junction (N.E.R.). The terms "Lucknow Charbagh railway station" and "Lucknow NR station" are used for the same railway station LKO.

Administration

Lucknow Charbagh railway station (LKO) is operated by Lucknow Division of Northern Railway.

Infrastructure

The ostentatious structural design of Charbagh Railway Station enthrals a tourist at the onset. Built at a whooping price of ₹ 70 lakhs, it was designed by J.H. Hornimen. The foundation of the Charbagh Railway Station was placed by the Bishop, in March 1914.

The Charbagh railway station building's foundation stone was laid in 1914 and the building was completed in 1923.A major role in its design and planning was carried out by Chaubey Mukta Prasad, a counsulting engineer for Ms Lanebrown and Hulett. It has a large garden in front of the building. It incorporates the mix of Rajput, Awadhi and Mughal architecture and has a palatial appearance. A unique feature of the Charbagh railway station is that an aerial view of the station building shows it as a chess board and the domes and pillars of the building appear to be pieces of a chess game. Architecturally, it is considered one of the most beautiful railway stations in India. The Government Railway Police station at Lucknow's Charbagh railway station holds an ISO 9001 certificate.

Built on a raised plinth, it has a rectangular ground plan with projecting porticos. There are several towers and clusters of circular Awadhi domes. The wide, raised platforms have several halls and rooms for official purposes.

It is also the main hub for the Lucknow-Kanpur Suburban Railway system (MEMU).

Aishbagh junction terminal

this project was started on 1 May along with gauge conversion from meter to broad from very same sstation to pilibhit. In this project railway will develop this station as terminal for many northwest and north bound trains(from Delhi, sitapur, pilibhit, tanakpur, shahjahanpur, behraich, mailani, lalkuan, kathgodam. Seven platforms are under construction with a washing pit line and loop line along with an entirely new large station building and dual entrance.

Gauge Conversion

this project started on 15 May 2016 . Under this project meter gauge lines from lucknow to Tanakpur will be converted to broad gauge under three phases, where first phase will be finished by January 2017.

Aishbagh - Manaknagar bypass

under this project a one kilometer rail track will be constructed from Aishbagh station to Manak nagar through RDSO area of the city so that long distance trains fro Gorakhpur will directly pass from Aishbagh to Manak nagar without going to Lucknow Junction and thus avoiding the time loss in engine reversal.

Gomti Nagar Terminal

Under this project NER will develop a world class railway station at Gomti nagar . Six platforms will be made here . This station will act as terminal for North and Northeast bound trains (like for Delhi, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Balrampur, etc.)

Circular train

Honorable Home Minister Rajnath Singh Ji has announced that a local train just like that of Mumbai will run on Aishbagh-lucknow city-daliganj- badshahnagar- gomtinagar- malhour-juggaur-malhour-dilkusha –gwarigaon- Charbagh route to ease the pressure on the roads. The reports are already submitted and date for starting the project will soon be announced.

ASH- MAL doubling and electrification

NER will double and electrify the rail track from Aishbagh to Malhour via Rakabganj to increase the speed of trains on this route.

Transport Nagar Railway terminal

A new passenger railway terminal will be developed at transport nagar by the end of 2017. It would contain 3 platforms and a goods yard . It would handle north west and east bound trains.This project was inaugurated by railway minister Suresh Prabhu in December 2016.

Alam Nagar

Railways will also develop Alam Nagar railway station (Rajajipuram) as a satellite station to handle north bound trains.

Important Stations in Lucknow

There are currently six stations in Lucknow from where trains originate and terminate (other than halting). They are (in order of importance) Charbagh station, Lucknow Junction station, Gomti nagar station, Badshah Nagar station, Daligunj junction station and Aishbagh junction station.All of them (except Gomti nagar and Badshah Nagar) lie in Old city .

Layout

Charbagh Railway station is undoubtedly the most important station in the city.The station contains one home platform (platform no. 1) which can house 24 carriage train . Other than that it has 6 island platforms (platform no. 2,3,4,5,6,7) .Two more island platforms (platform no. 10 and 11) are being constructed beyond platform no. 7.There are two bay platforms also(platform no. 8 and 9) contiguous to platform no. 1. These platforms can handle short length trains of 18 carriages like Nauchandi express,Varanasi Intercity, Pratapgarh DEMU, Prayag ghat passenger,etc.

Metro

The station is also proposed as an intersection for Lucknow Metro routes i.e. North-South Corridor and East-West Corridor. It will be a terminal station for East-West Corridor.

Suburban stations