Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction railway station

File:Mughalsarai Junction railway station.jpg

The station was built by the East Indian Railway Company in 1862 as part of a plan to build a railway line connecting Delhi and Howrah.{{cite news |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/mughalsarai-railway-station-renamed-to-deen-dayal-upadhyay-ddu-station-yogi-adityanath-4889831/ |title=Mughalsarai railway station renamed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) station |date=14 October 2017 |newspaper=The Indian Express }} Mughalsarai Junction was the second biggest railway station after Gaddar, near Karachi (in Pakistan now). Famously known as the gateway to east India, this junction was set up as part of a project to connect Delhi–Calcutta route by British railway company known as the East Indian Railways.{{cite news |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/mughalsarai-junction-renamed-why-name-changed-after-156-years-1305650-2018-08-05 |title=Why Mughalsarai station lost its name after 156 years. Uttar Pradesh's iconic railway station Mughalsarai Junction will be formally renamed after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. |date=6 August 2018 |newspaper=India Today }}

The station is located on the Grand Trunk Road route. It was one of the busiest corridors during Mughal era which connected east India with the north. In 1862, the railway tracks crossed Mughalsarai and reached the western bank of the Yamuna.{{cite news |last1=Dikshit |first1=Rajeev |title=Mughalsarai: The many names of Mughalsarai |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/the-many-names-of-mughalsarai/articleshow/59924547.cms |access-date=1 February 2021 |work=The Times of India |date=5 August 2017 |language=en}} The through link to Delhi was established in 1866.{{cite web |url=http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-hist.html |title=IR History: Early History (1832–1869) |publisher=IRFCA |access-date=19 June 2013}} The Grand Chord was commissioned in 1906.{{cite web |url=http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-history3.html |title=IR History: Part III (1900–1947) |publisher=IRFCA |access-date=19 June 2013}}

The Dufferin Bridge across the Ganges was opened in 1887, connecting Mughalsarai to Varanasi.{{cite web |url=http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-history2.html |title=IR History: Part II (1870–1899) |publisher=IRFCA |access-date=19 June 2013}}

On the evening of 10 February 1968, barely two months after he was elected president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya boarded the Sealdah Express from Lucknow to Patna. A few hours later, his body was found near a pole a few hundred feet from the end of a platform at Mughalsarai station. What followed was a long and involved investigation into what the Sangh and people insisted was a politically motivated murder by the ruling party. A CBI probe initiated by ruling party called it an accident; two men confessed to pushing him out of the train in a robbery attempt but were acquitted when it was found out to be made under duress; there was no sign of struggle or injury on Upadhyay's person. And conspiracy theories about power battles by Congress against the Sangh still abound. In 1992, then government of the state of Uttar Pradesh attempted to rename Mughalsarai after Deen Dayal Upadhyaya{{cite book |last1=Noorani |first1=A.G. |title=Islam, South Asia and the Cold War |date=2012 |publisher=Tulika Books|url=https://thewire.in/history/deen-dayal-upadhyaya-death-mystery |access-date=5 June 2018|author1-link=A. G. Noorani}} However, the plan was shelved when Kalyan Singh, the chief minister was forced to resign after an outbreak of violence in the state following the Babri Masjid demolition.{{cite news |title=Mughalsarai station is now Deen Dayal Upadhyay station |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/mughalsarai-station-now-deen-dayal-upadhyay-1305833-2018-08-05 |access-date=21 August 2018 |work=India Today |date=5 August 2018}} In 2017, Government of India approved a fresh proposal forwarded by the Yogi Adityanath-led state government to rename the station.{{cite news |title=Mughalsarai railway station renamed after Deen Dayal Upadhyaya: A look at stations that have been renamed recently |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/here-are-the-railway-stations-which-have-been-renamed-recently-4781759/ |access-date=21 August 2018 |work=The Indian Express |date=4 August 2017}} The station was officially renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction on 4 June 2018.

File:Deendayalmughalsaraijn.png

The Gaya–Mughalsarai Junction section was electrified in 1961–63. Mughalsarai yard was electrified in 1963–65.{{cite web |url=http://irfca.org/docs/electrification-history.html |title=History of Electrification |publisher=IRFCA |access-date=19 June 2013}}

Mughalsarai marshalling yard is the largest in Asia.{{cite web |url=http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-yard.html |title=Freight Sheds and Mashalling Yards |publisher=IRFCA |access-date=19 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127023453/https://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-yard.html |archive-date=27 January 2018 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ecr.indianrailways.gov.in/uploads/files/1322119784210-Inf.pdf |title=General Information |publisher=East Central Railway |access-date=19 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525082717/ecr.indianrailways.gov.in/uploads/files/1322119784210-Inf.pdf |archive-date=25 May 2012 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?210638 |title=Mughalsarai: Tracks to Nowhere |work=Outlook (Indian magazine) |date=8 January 2001 |access-date=19 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006081354/http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?210638 |archive-date=6 October 2013 |first1=Arijit |last1=Barman |url-status=dead}} It is 12.5 km long and handles around 1,500 wagons daily. Wagon handling has come down after the railways discontinued piecemeal loading. At its peak, it handled 5,000 wagons a day. Of all divisions on Indian Railways, Mughalsarai Division deals the most intense train operations – both Goods and Coaching. It is the bridge between Eastern part and Northern part of India. It closes the distance between pit head coal and power house, finished steel product to user, food grain and fertiliser to eastern part of the country and other raw material to industries. The operational efficiency of the division plays a pivotal role in determining the efficiency of the East Central Railway and any setback or inefficiency in operations on this division is a sensitive matter which affects the overall operations of the Railways. Because of its crucial importance, the Railway Board keeps a special watch on Mughalsarai division's operations.{{cite web |url=http://indianrailwayemployee.com/node/6016 |title=Marshalling Yards |publisher=Indian Railway Employee |access-date=19 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113012156/http://indianrailwayemployee.com/node/6016 |archive-date=13 November 2013 |url-status=dead}}

Mughal Sarai diesel loco shed is home to WDM-2, WDM-3A and WDS-5 diesel locos. The diesel shed also holds 50 electric locos, all of them WAG-7. There was a Northern Railway diesel loco shed at Mughalsarai. It was decommissioned in 2001. Mughalsarai electric loco shed can hold more than 150 electric locos. Amongst them are WAP-4 and more than 70 WAG-7 locos. The electric shed has recently started holding WAG-9 locomotives.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The largest wagon repair workshop of Indian Railways is located at Mughalsarai.{{cite web|title=Sheds and workshops|url=http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-shed.html|access-date=19 June 2013|publisher=IRFCA}}

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railways.{{cite web |url=http://www.indianrail.gov.in/7days_Avl.html |title=Indian Railways Passenger Reservation Enquiry |work=Availability in trains for Top 100 Booking Stations of Indian Railways |publisher=IRFCA |access-date=19 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510115649/http://www.indianrail.gov.in/7days_Avl.html |archive-date=10 May 2014 }}

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction railway station has 2 AC rooms, 4 non-AC retiring rooms, and a ten-bedded non-AC dormitory. It has a food plaza and a ‘Jan Aahar’ (affordable food) facility. The station has ATMs of nationalised banks.{{cite web |url=http://www.ecr.indianrailways.gov.in/uploads/files/1327473148418-Organizational%20Information-JAN-12.pdf |title=Mughalsarai Division, Commercial Department |publisher=Indian Railways |access-date=19 June 2013}}

File:Platform 4 and 5 of Mughalsarai Junction from flyover.jpg|Platform 4 and 5 of Mughalsarai Junction from flyover

File:Mughalsarai Junction from flyover 01.jpg|A view of Mughalsarai Junction as seen from flyover.

File:Mughalsarai Station 2.jpg|Inside Mughalsarai Junction station

File:Platform 7 of Mughalsarai Junction, India.jpg|Platform 7 of Mughalsarai Junction.

File:Mugal-sarai-l.jpg|Mughalsarai Junction board.

File:Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction board.jpg|Board of showing the new name of the station: "Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction"

File:Local Train on Platform 5 of Mughalsarai Junction.jpg|Local Train on Platform 5 of Mughalsarai Junction.

File:Food Track at Mughalsarai Junction platform 6.jpg|Food Track at Mughalsarai Junction platform 6

File:Upper Class waiting room at Platform 6 of Mughalsarai Junction, India.jpg|Upper Class waiting room at Platform 6 of Mughalsarai Junction

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• Varanasi Junction railway station
• Varanasi City railway station
• Kashi railway station
• Banaras railway station
• Kerakat railway station
• Gaya Junction railway station
• Dhanbad Junction railway station

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{{Adjacent stations|noclear=y

|system=Indian Railways

|line=East Central Railway zone|left=Kuchman|right=Jeonathpur|type=Howrah–Delhi main line

|line2=East Central Railway zone|left2=Ganjkhwaja|right2=Jeonathpur|type2=Grand Chord line

|line3=East Central Railway zone|left3=|right3=Vyasnagar|type3=Mughalsarai–Varanasi–Lucknow line}}

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Category:Railway stations in India opened in 1862

Category:Railway stations in Chandauli district

Category:Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya railway division

Category:Railway junction stations in Uttar Pradesh

Category:Transport in Mughalsarai

Category:Memorials to Deendayal Upadhyay

Category:Indian Railway A1 Category Stations