Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, is a major city in central India. Bhopal Junction with station code BPL is a major railway junction on the West Central Railway and is the main railway station in Bhopal city. Habibganj and Bairagarh are the other two important stations in Bhopal.  The city has three more railway stations in Misrod, Sukhisewania, and Mandideep.

Bhopal Junction Railway Station –

The Railway Station is on the main Delhi-Chennai route and has Bina Junction on its northern side and Itarsi Junction on the southern. Another rail line leads to the Ujjain Junction on the west.  The Bhopal Junction was built in 1941 and is well-connected to all parts of the country and to most major cities by direct trains. Bhopal Junction is centrally located in the country so it is connected with most states except the North-East.  As many as 210 pairs of express trains, including Rajdhani, Garibrath, Shatabdi, Duronto, and 13 pairs of passenger trains stop here.

Many trains originate and terminate either at Bhopal Junction or at Habibganj Railway Station. These include Bhopal Shatabdi Express, Bhopal Jan Shatabdi Express, Bhopal-Mumbai Express, Shaan-e-Bhopal Express, Bhopal-Lucknow-Pratapgarh Express, Bhopal-Rewa Rewanchal Express, Bhopal-Lucknow Express, Bhopal-Gwalior Intercity Express, Bhopal-Lucknow Garibrath Express, Bhopal–Durg Amarkantak Express, Bhopal-Howrah Express, Bhopal-Bilaspur Express, Bhopal-Indore Intercity Express, Bhopal – Jaipur Express, Bhopal-Damoh Intercity Express, Bhopal-Indore AC Double Decker Intercity Express, Bhopal-Indore AC Double Decker Non-Stop Express, Bhopal-Jabalpur Intercity Express, and Bhopal-Itarsi Vindhyachal Express.

The Bhopal Junction has six platforms, separate waiting halls for men and women, restaurants, food plazas, safe drinking water facilities, computerized reservation counters, unreserved ticket counters, and internet cafes.  The Bhopal Junction is among the country’s ISO 9001 certified railway stations.

Habibganj Railway Station –

Constructed in 1975, the Habibganj Railway Station is located at Habibganj, an area close to New Bhopal, BHEL Township, Arera Colony, and Saket Nagar. It is on the Bhopal-Itarsi stretch of the West Central Railway. It is seven km away from the main railway station at Bhopal. The superfast daily train service, Shaan-e-Bhopal Express, runs from Habibganj to Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station in Delhi.  The AC Bhopal-Indore AC double-decker, non-stop express train starts from Habibganj.  The Bhopal Shatabdi Express runs at speeds of 160 kmph and is the fastest train in the country. Habibganj is the country’s first ISO 9001 certified railway station and is used by 2.60 lakh passengers every day.

Habibganj Railway Station (HBJ) has six platforms, and services like computerised reserved ticket counters, un-reserved ticket counters, State Bank of India’s ATM, rail restaurant, Food Plaza parcel faculty, waiting rooms, railway parking ground, mineral water vendors, railway green park, separate waiting rooms for men and women, general waiting rooms, AC waiting rooms, toilets and sanitation, internet café, STD calling booths and baggage room. The station also has special facilities for the challenged persons. These include the train time-table in Braille and exit doors for the disabled.

Bairagarh Railway Station-

Bairagarh is another important railway station of Bhopal City. Many important trains passing along the route stop there. Bairagarh, at a distance of less than 15 km from Bhopal, has now become a part of Bhopal as the city’s boundaries have expanded. It is on the rail line leading to Ujjain from Bhopal. The airport of Bhopal is located at Bairagarh. Many of Bairagarh’s residents are Sindhi and a large number of refugees from Sindh, now in Pakistan, were settled there after the partition of the country.

Manideep Railway Station  –

Manideep Railway Station located south of Bhopal on the rail route to Itarsi has stops of many trains. These include Narmada Express, Panchvalley Express, Dadar-Amritsar Express, Amritsar-Bilaspur Chhattisgarh Express, Panchvalley Fast Passenger (Indore-Chhindwara), Bhopal Express, and Jhansi – Itarsi Passenger.

Restaurants near Station –

Some of the restaurants located near the station are:

• Travelkhana – 08800313131
• Raj Shudh Sakahari Bhojnalya
• New Zaiqa Veg and Non Veg
• Metro hotel
• Sagar Gaire Fast Food Corner
• Milan Restaurant
• Jharokha
• Taste of Hyderabad

Food delicacies from Bhopal –

The famous vegetarian dishes from Bhopal include poha, saboodana khichdi, bhutte ki kees, chhola burger, chaat, panipuri, and tikkis and chakki ki shaak. Its pickles leave a lingering taste in the connoisseur’s mouth. Hot almond milk, lassi and shikanji are its popular drinks. The non-vegetarian dishes include rogan josh korma, Seekh kebab, achari gosht, shami kebab, gosht korma, murgh rezala, murgh Nizami, paneer rezala, masala rice and murgh hara.  The favourite sweet dishes are mawa-bati, shreekhand, khoprapak, gulab jamun, and jalebi. And the food story cannot end without the nice-tasting and digestive Bhopali paan.