Changed! Recent railway station renaming spree in India

As the government of Rajasthan announced its decision to change the name of ‘Miyan Ka Bada’ Railway Station in the Barmer district to ‘Mahesh Nagar Halt’, we look at some of railway stations that underwent a name change in the recent past.

Sometimes the names of stations and names of the town they belong to are changed at the same time.

‘Miyan Ka Bada’ town had already become ‘Mahesh Nagar Halt’ in 2018, when Vasundhara Raje was still the CM of the state.

In 2021, the Habibganj Railway Station in Madhya Pradesh was named as Rani Kamlapati Railway Station after the Gond queen.

Uttar Pradesh has seen a number of name changes in the recent past.

Allahabad city and railway station became Prayagraj in 2018, Mughalsarai’s station became Deen Dayal Upadhyay railway station in 2018. The Jan Sangh co-founder had been found dead on the railway station in 1968.

The Faizabad Railway Station was renamed to Ayodhya Cantt in 2021, while district’s name had already been changed three years earlier.

Jhansi railway station was first renamed to Virangana Lakshmibai Railway Station in 2021. After protests over government’s decision to drop Jhansi from the name, they decided to add it to the changed name, giving it its present name ‘Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Railway Station’.

Name changes are not always reserved for large towns. Several small towns and stations in UP have been renamed. Robertsganj was renamed to Sonbhadra, Panki became Panki Dham railway station and Dadupur became Maa Barahi Devi Dham railway station.