Mathura Junction railway station is an important station on Agra–Delhi chord of Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Chennai lines. It is located in Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the important North-Central Railway stations. It serves Mathura and Vrindavan.
Overview
Mathura is the birthplace of Lord Krishna. He spent his childhood in Vrindavan, 11 km away from Mathura. Therefore, both are major pilgrimage centres for Hindus. Mathura Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation which is one of the largest oil refineries of India is located at Mathura.
History
The -long Hath Road–Mathura Cantt line was opened in 1875 by Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. It was transferred to North Eastern Railway in 1952. The Mathura–Kasganj line was converted from -wide metre gauge to broad gauge in 2009.
The -long metre-gauge Mathura– branch line was opened by Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian Railway in 1889.
Station
Mathura Junction has 10 platforms. There is a junction for southbound and westbound trains. It has connectivity with all major cities of India. There are seven routes / lines from this railway junction station. Platform 10 dedicate for metre-gauge trains(currently not operating as of gauge conversion). As per the 2018 report released by Quality Council of India (QCI), station was declared the least clean station among the 75 major stations.
Electrification
The Faridabad–Mathura–Agra section was electrified in 1982–85. The Mathura–Bharatpur–Gangapur city line was electrified in 1985–86.
Amenities
Mathura Junction railway station has a tourist information centre, telephone booths, computerised reservation centre, waiting room, vegetarian and non-vegetarian refreshment rooms, and a book stall. Indian Railways, as part of its station redevelopment initiative, successfully renovated the Mathura's Railway station making it more convenient for passengers visiting the city by Railways. The station has new entry and exit gates, and the first class waiting room for the passengers has been revamped by providing new benches. Circulating area of the station has been modified.
Passengers
Mathura Junction is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railway. The junction is important as from here the routes of train coming from Delhi are bifurcated towards Mumbai and South Indian cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.
Train Accident
On September 28, 2023, a MEMU Train collided with a buffer on Platform 2. The cause of the accident was that the train driver was drunk and watching his phone while operating the train at full speed, 1 person was injured.