| Barabanki Junction | |
| Type: | Indian Railways junction station |
| Style: | Indian Railways |
| Address: | Barabanki city & Banki town, Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh |
| Country: | India |
| Elevation: | 122 meters |
| Structure: | Standard (on-ground station having rail wifi) |
| Platform: | 4 |
| Tracks: | 10 |
| Parking: | Available |
| Opened: | 1 April 1882[1] |
| Rebuilt: | 1946s |
| Electrified: | 2002–03[2] | accessible = | code = | owned = North Eastern Railway of Indian Railways (since 1953)| operator = Northern Railway & North Eastern Railway| status = Functioning| former = Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway (1882–1925) East Indian Railway (1925–1952) * Cawnpore–Burhwal Railway (1896–1943) Bengal and North Western Railway (1896–1943) Oudh and Tirhut Railway (1855–1952) * Cawnpore–Barabanki Railway (1943–1953)| passengers = 8569[3] | pass_year = 2015| pass_percent = | pass_system = |
Barabanki Junction or Barabanki station is the intercity rail station and a commuter rail hub in the Indian city of Barabanki. It has been important junction since the days of British control of India.[4] In its category it is one of the important stations in NER. The Barabanki Junction railway station is on the Delhi– Basti– Gorakhpur main broad-gauge route in Uttar Pradesh. Barabanki Junction is also the hub for the Barabanki–Lucknow Suburban Railway. Barabanki railway station lies in the zone of high density stations.[5]
The station became operational on 1 April 1872 with the opening of Burhwal-Barabanki section. It got connected to Lucknow on 24 November 1896 with the opening of Daliganj-Barabanki section. The station underwent major renovation in 1940s.
Of the 301 miles of the Bengal and North Western Railway main line was 17 miles consisting of following section which was used to connect Barabanki from Burhwal:
18 miles of the Cawnpore–Burhwal Railway which was later renamed as Cawnpore–Barabanki Railway, was used to connect Barabanki from Daliganj:
In 1981 Railway Budget two enhancements related to Barabanki were proposed:[6]
Electrification of tracks at Barabanki Jn took place in two phases spread across span of almost ten years.
Phase I of electrification of tracks passing through Barabanki Jn took place in 2002–03 in two steps,
Phase II of electrification of 30 km of tracks from Barabanki Jn to Burhwal Jn (section of Gorakhpur–Lucknow route) took place in 2010–11 and got completed in May 2011.[7]
Barabanki station has two yards: one at Ayodhya route side and other at Gorakhpur route side. This yard used for load and unload purpose of commodities mainly coal, fertilizer, cement, stone, food grains etc.
Total 5 EMUs/DMUs originate from Barabanki Junction railway station, same number of EMUs/DMUs terminate too at the station.[3]
Daily 125 trains pass through Barabanki Junction. Normally around six thousand passengers pass through this railway station, this number can be higher on special occasions e.g. during season of Kumbh Mela 2013, on 7, 8 and 9 February 2013, 8500, 8700 and 8000 passengers travelled from Barabanki to Lucknow railway station to catch trains for Prayagraj as there is no direct train from Barabanki to Prayagraj.[8]