The Rohilkhand railway
Bareilly is the historic capital of Rohilkhand, the region named after the Rohilla Afghans who ruled it in the 18th century, and its railway was built by a company named after the region: the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway. Bareilly Junction (code BE) is on the Lucknow–Moradabad line and belongs to Northern Railway's Moradabad division. In 2024 it handled about 6.63 million passengers.
How the line reached Bareilly
- 31 March 1872: the government buys the Indian Branch Railway, and the Lucknow–Kanpur line becomes the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway.
- 1872: the line from Lucknow via Sandila to Hardoi is completed.
- 1 November 1873: the railway reaches Bareilly; on 22 December 1873 the Moradabad–Chandausi line is extended to the city.
- 4 December 1891: a direct Bareilly–Moradabad chord is approved.
- 8 June 1894: the chord is completed, and on 8 December 1894 the main line is officially diverted onto it. The older route via Chandausi becomes the Chandausi loop.
- 2007: the station is rebuilt.
Two gauges, two zones
Bareilly was once a dual-gauge city, with both broad-gauge and metre-gauge trains. The metre-gauge lines, run by the North Eastern Railway, have since been converted to broad gauge. The city still hosts the headquarters of NER's Izzatnagar division, so both Northern Railway and North Eastern Railway trains serve Bareilly.
Inside Bareilly
BE has 6 platforms, with 4 more proposed, on 15 tracks, at an elevation of about 174 metres.
Trains through Bareilly
Services include the Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Vande Bharat, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, Garib Rath, Humsafar, Sampark Kranti and the Double Decker Express. The train schedule page shows which ones stop at BE.
Bareilly's other stations
Bareilly City and Bareilly Cantt also serve the town, and some trains on the former metre-gauge routes use them instead of the junction. A planned Bareilly Metro Yellow Line would terminate at the station.