The Nagpur railways constitute a very significant part of the transport and communication system in the important city of Nagpur in Maharashtra. Many people from the rest of the country and abroad, visit the city of Nagpur to spend a vacation or on a work-related tour. For these frequent visitors to the city of Nagpur, the railways of Nagpur, along with the airways and the roadways, are of immense importance. Some important trains that are available at the Nagpur railway station are the Vishakapatnam Nizamudin Samta Express, the Banglore Nizamudin Rajdhani Express, the Mumbai Howrah Mail, the Bangalore Gorakpur Express and the Howrah Mumbai Mail.
The railways at Nagpur were established a long time back well before the independence of India, as Nagpur used to be an important city of India even in those days. The year 1867 marks the beginning of the Nagpur railways. In the year 1881, the city of Nagpur was linked up with another important city of India, that is, Kolkata, via the railways of the state of Chhattisgarh. The railway station of Nagpur was previously housed towards the east of the place where the current station has been constructed. The present-day railway station of Nagpur was also put up in the pre-independence days. The year of its establishment is 1924.
The railways in Nagpur are important not only because the city is one of the tourist destinations of the country and the second capital of the significant state of Maharashtra, but also because of its prime location. The railway station of Nagpur has a central location in the entire country and hence is strategically very important not only in the state but in the entire subcontinent of India.
Nagpur Railway Station can be upgraded to international standard Modernization Move over model station, if all goes according to plan then Nagpur could well be developed into a world class station. The Indian Railways has identified 22 such stations in India which can be upgraded to international standard and Nagpur is one of those. Making this announcement at a ‘meet the press’ programme at the divisional railway manager’s office on Tuesday, Sowmya Raghavan, general manager, Central Railway, said: “I’d see to it that the city gets the best of passenger amenities.” Raghvan, who was on her first official to city as general manager CR, asserted that central railway has even identified priority areas like security, safety and cleanliness. “We plan to install CCTVs and metal detectors on all sensitive stations in the entire zone. My commitment is that passengers should have a feel of the facilities when they enter the station. We’ll instil a sense of behaviour among the front-line staff too as to how to behave with the commuters,” said Raghvan.
The general manager, who inspected the 140-km stretch between Ballarshah and Nagpur, further said: “There’s great demand to start new trains but I’ve no powers to start those. I can only forward such proposals to the railway board — the one which we did to make triweekly Nagpur-Pune Express into a daily train. The decision is expected in this railway budget.” Once again, hopes to develop Ajni railway station into a terminus has been dashed. Raghvan was non-committal on the issue but could only say that it would be developed as a coaching complex. “If you plan to increase trains from Nagpur in future, we would need a coaching complex to maintain these trains and Ajni would be developed on these lines. A Rs 8.9 crore proposal has already been sent to the board,” the top official asserted. “Ajni is hardly 2.8 km from Nagpur station and as such it can’t be developed as a second station after Nagpur,” she added. When asked about her assessment of the division, she was all praise for the officials but also said that she asked them to overcome certain shortcomings too.
It has an enormous covered waiting area on the platform No. 1. The main complex has waiting and retiring rooms for passengers awaiting connecting trains. It also has "Comesum", the IRCTC authorized multicuisine food plaza in the main building having sitting capacity of 150 peoples. The Retiring Rooms are avialable at the rent rates of A/c 250 Rupees and Non A/c 200 Rupees.