Vadodara Junction railway station (formerly Baroda City Junction, station code: BRC) is the main station in the Indian city of Vadodara, Gujarat. Due to its strategic location, it is the fifth-busiest railway station in India in terms of frequency of trains after Kanpur Central, Vijayawada Junction, Delhi Junction, New Delhi, and Howrah,and busiest in Gujarat state and as well as second important railway station in Gujarat after Ahmedabad Junction. It is also major stop on the Western Railway zone of Indian Railways. Around 340 trains start, end, or pass through the station weekly. 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 Indian Railways 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 and Central Bus Stand) 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 and the Gujarat Sampark Kranti Express, 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; Vadodara and Chhota Udaipur and the Delhi line via Ratlam, Kota and Mathura. 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, Delhi Sarai Rohilla–Bandra Terminus Garib Rath Express, Gujarat Mail, Karnavati Express, Suryanagri Express and Ranakpur Express. The prestigious Mumbai Rajdhani Express, August Kranti Rajdhani Express, Ahmedabad–Mumbai Central Tejas Express, Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani Express, Golden Temple Mail, Hazrat Nizamuddin–Pune Duronto Express and Avantika Express 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, WAP-5, WAP-7, WAM-4 (now condemned or withdrawn) and WAG-5 (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, Mumbai was under DC supply from before Borivali when the Western Railway in Mumbai changed over to the AC system in February 2012, the WCAM locos have been transferred to the Kalyan shed.

It is currently holds 10+ WAP-4, 60+ WAP-5 and 130+ WAP-7 locomotive respectively.

It also has a MEMU car shed which houses the Mainline Electric Multiple units which provides feeder services to Ahmedabad, Surat, Dahod and Godhra.

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

References

Railway stations in Vadodara district
Vadodara railway division
Railway junction stations in Gujarat
Transport in Vadodara
Buildings and structures in Vadodara
Railway stations in India opened in 1861
1861 establishments in British India