Know The Difference Between Junction, Station, Cantt, Terminal Etc.

Kanpur Central, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Agra Cantt, etc..why not station simply? Know the reason behind it.

Train journeys are so common in India. A huge number of people travel using Indian Railways on a daily basis. In fact, Indian Railways is one of the largest daily traffic carrier systems servicing approximately 24 million passengers across the nation. You also must have also been travelled using the Indian Railways once. Have you ever thought why train stations are named with junctions, terminus, Cantt, central etc? Why can’t we simply use station after the name of that specific place, instead of complexing it? The answer is every other word used has a meaning and a context related to that place, and that is why different words are used. Let us know about that:

Central

Central is used for such railway stations which are the busiest, oldest or biggest of the city. Trains arrival and departure happens every minute over there making the station excessively engaged or busy. Mumbai Central (BCT), Kanpur Central (CNB), Chennai Central (MAS), Mangalore Central (MAQ) and Trivandrum Central (TVC) are some of the prominent central stations in India.

Terminal/Terminus

The word Terminal or Terminus is derived from the word termination meaning end. Here, when the rail track ends or terminates, the station is named terminal or terminus. Anand Vihar Terminal in New Delhi and Bandra Terminus in Mumbai are some major examples.

Junction

A railway station is named Junction when there is at least three or more train lines that converge or diverge or the station must have at least two outgoing train lines for trains arriving there. Mathura Junction, Prayagraj Junction, and Patna Junction are some examples.

Road

A railway station that is not in the city, but is connected to the city’s nearby prominent road. It means a railway station that is not in the city but is near the road which is heading or connected to the specific city on which the railway station is named. Nasik Road and Abu Road are some of the examples of such railway stations.

Cantt 

Cantt is named for such city’s railway stations where there is an army cantonment zone or an army outpost. Agra Cantt,  Bangalore Cantt, and Ambala Cantt are some of the Cantt railway stations.