| Kanpur Central | |
| Type: | Indian Railways station |
| Style: | Indian Railways |
| Address: | Cantt Side: Central Station Lane, Mirpur Cantt City Side: Ghantaghar Crossing Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh |
| Country: | India |
| Elevation: | 126.63m (415.45feet) |
| Operator: | Indian Railways |
| Line: | Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line Howrah-Delhi main line Kanpur–Unnao–Lucknow line Kanpur–Tundla–Agra line Kanpur–Kannauj–Kasganj line Kanpur–Banda–Chitrakoot line Kanpur–Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar line Kanpur–Unnao–Balamau line Kanpur–Unnao–Prayagraj line Kanpur–Unnao–Rai Bareilly line |
| Platforms: | 10 |
| Tracks: | 28 |
| Structure: | Standard (on-ground station) |
| Parking: | Available |
| Architectural Style: | Indo-Saracenic[1] |
| Status: | Functioning |
| Classification: | NSG-2[2] |
| Electrified: | 1972[3] from Howrah 5 August 1976 till |
| Map Type: | India Uttar Pradesh |
| Map Dot Label: | Kanpur Central |
| Former: | Indian Branch Rly. Co. Northern Railways |
| Mapframe: | yes |
| Mapframe-Caption: | Interactive map |
Kanpur Central (formerly known as Cawnpore North Barracks, station code: CNB) is a central and junction railway station in the city of Kanpur and is one of the five central Indian railway stations. It is third busiest in country after Howrah Jn and New Delhi railway station. It is a major railway station between Howrah Jn and New Delhi.After Bandel junction and kharagpur junction it holds the record for the 3rd largest interlocking route system in the world. All trains passing through this station stop here, including premium trains, and all superfast, mail and passenger trains. The station is a major intercity rail and commuter rail station in the region. some weekly trains are Bandel-kanpur duronto express
Kanpur Central has undergone a beautification and modernisation effort in recent years, especially following the inclusion of the station in the "50 World-Class Railway Stations" budget, which sought to modernise Indian railway stations, by former Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee. These efforts mainly include the improvement of services offered to customers and the redevelopment of existing features, such as the installation of a new platform surface at platform number one. The current phase of development is mainly focused on the cleaning up of the side of the station facing the city, with ₹15 million being budgeted to go towards the project. A food plaza is designated to be built on the second floor and two new car parks are also being proposed.[4]
According to a NCR report the station needs at least 10 more platforms to support the ever-increasing passenger amount. At present, the re-modelling work is proceeding very slowly, but senior NCR officials are hopeful of keeping their promises.
A three-layer underground car park has been proposed as well as the installation of two escalators leading to the footbridges passing over the railway lines. By 2010 a new footbridge was constructed at the west end of the station.
Major trains that originate from Kanpur Central are:-
Kanpur Loco Shed holds electric locomotives like WAP-4, WAP-7, WAG-7 & WAG-9.
It is currently holds 15 WAP-4, 50+ WAP-7, 70+ WAG-7 & 90+ WAG-9 locomotives respectively.