What is the difference between Terminal, Junction and Central Station in Indian Railways?

Usually you might have observed while traveling by train that there are terminal, junction and central station on the route. Have you ever attempted to find out what is the difference between them? What do they stand for or why they are named differently. Let us find out!

Indian Railways, operated by the Indian government under the Ministry of Railways, is the biggest rail network in Asia and the fourth-largest rail network in the world. In India, the railway running track is 92,081 km long which covers 66,687 km distance. Indian Railways is a vital part of our life and it offers the most crucial mode of public transport in India. One can travel anywhere comfortably with it.

Travelling by train is the most enticing and the most delectable experience one can ever have. While travelling by train have you ever seen that while going there are many stations named as terminal, junction and central like Agra Junction, Kanpur Central etc? Do you know what do they mean and why these names are posted on the Railway station board

The railway station is basically divided into three parts: Terminus / Terminal, Junction and Central

1.Terminus/ Terminal

Where the route or track terminates, a station is referred to as terminus or terminal. Terminus itself refers to the point of termination. It is that station from where the train proceeds no further i.e. the train can go or come in only one way in the station. It may also be thought of as it is the termination point of the track, where every incoming track ends at stop-blocks and goes no further.

Do you know that Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus / Victoria Terminus and Lokmanya Tilak Terminal are the biggest terminal stations in the nation? The other instances of railway stations are Bandra Terminus, Howrah Terminus, Bhavnagar Terminal, Cochin Harbor Terminus etc.

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2.Central

Central Station refers to the fact that it is the busiest and most crucial station in the city. It is typically quite big, consists of several stations and handles lots of arrivals and departures. It is also not required to have a central station in a city if there are different stations. Such as there is no central station in India's capital Delhi. These are perhaps the oldest stations, hence they are referred as central. There are a total 5 Central stations in India: Trivandrum Central, Kanpur Central, Mangalore Central, Mumbai Central and Chennai Central.

3.Junction

If at least 3 routes are going from one station, then the station is a junction. It indicates that the trains arriving in the station should have at least two outgoing train lines. The most routes having junction is Mathura i.e. 7. Some other examples are: Six routes are coming out of Salem Junction, five from Vijayawada and 5 from Bareilly Junction etc.

So, now you might have gained the difference among Terminal, Central and Junction of the Indian Railways.