The Habibganj railway station in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, has been renamed as Rani Kamlapati station to honour the memory and sacrifices made by a queen of the Gond community, according to the state government. The revamped station, which boasts of the first central concourse with connectivity to all platforms with modern world-class facilities, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. A total of 175 railway stations are being redeveloped in the country under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, the prime minister said.
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The renaming of Habibganj railway station is hardly the first such instance. In 1966, the Madras railway station became Chennai railway station as a result of the rechristening of Tamil Nadu’s capital. The Mughalsarai Junction in Uttar Pradesh was renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction in 2018 to honour the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue who was found dead in Mughalsarai in 1968.
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Another station, Manduadih, in the state’s Varanasi was renamed Benaras to reflect the name by which the city is known. The larger station representing the city is already called Varanasi Junction.
On Diwali this year, the Faizabad Junction station was renamed Ayodhya Cantonment station.
While the Indian Railways runs rail operations throughout the country, it’s the state government concerned that can send the request for renaming a station to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which approves the process while keeping the Ministry of Railways in the loop, reports The Indian Express.
Once the name change is notified by the state government, the Indian Railways follows up with necessary work, including coming up with a new station “code” and feeding the same into its ticketing system. For instance, Faizabad Junction’s code was changed from “FD” to “AYC”. The new station name is also incorporated into building, platform signage, etc, and communication materials.
