The New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

This was my first trip to New Delhi on January 2017 and also for the first time I came across the New Delhi Railway Station or NDLS.

NDLS is the major railway station of New Delhi, the national capital of India. There are 5 Lines, 16 Platforms and 10 tracks in this station. The station is under ‘Northern Railways’ Zone of Indian Railways and serves the National Capital of India, and is in operation since 1926. NDLS serves about 400+ trains & 500,000+ passengers daily which makes it an important station. It is directly connected to 867 Railway Stations throughout the country. NDLS holds the record of for the largest route interlocking system in the world along with Kanpur Central Railway Station. The Delhi Metro’s ‘New Delhi’ Station (Yellow Line) & ‘Airport Metro Express’ serves this station.

As I said above, this was my first time to NDLS, and it was not a bad experience, but I would still keep my home station ‘Howrah (HWH)’ well ahead of this station. Though we did not spend much time to explore the station after arriving in Delhi, we had an unexpected layover at the station on our return journey back to Howrah, as our train the 12302 Down NDLS HWH Rajdhani on 10th January was 13 hour late. It kept on delaying from time to time and we had to stay at the terminal. The waiting hall was full so we had to wait at the main terminal area. That night it was so cold and windy (it was around 2 C or less) and we felt like we are in the North Pole, especially when we came to the platform to board the train around 3 AM at night. The expected departure of the train was at 1655!!

It is not that I hate layovers, it is definitely stressful but if you are not tired then it is interesting to wait and experience the night at the Railway stations (even at airports). People were aware of the cold and the train delays, and it was like - except us every one was prepared with blankets and sleeping mats, and everybody started sleeping on the floor of the general waiting area (the area was huge though). There was a group of small school kids from the state of Odisha. Their train was also delayed like ours, they also slept there. I was feeling bad for them.

If you are a traveller of interested in travelling then the station arrival/ departure display board will tease you very much. There were so many trains to well known tourist destinations in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and to other parts of the country. Delhi lies in the centre if numerous tourist destinations!!

NDLS have a bad reputation regarding cleanliness and such was acknowledged by Ministry of Railways and 2017 Railway Budget makes provision for developement of infrastructure of this station. Hope things will get better soon. This station had much upgrade for the 2010 Commonwealth Games but definitely more developement is requited.

Thats all for today. Do check out my YouTube Channel "Soumos Travelbox' for more videos of my New Delhi trip and many others. I also have a railfanning vlog (Soumo's Railways), that I also invite you to visit.