Thane railway station emerged as India's busiest railway station by passenger footfall in 2023-24, recording more than 9.30 crore passengers during the year, according to data released by Indian Railways. Kalyan ranked second with 8.37 crore passengers, while Howrah occupied the third position with 6.13 crore. The figures underline the scale of passenger movement across India's extensive railway network, which serves both daily commuters and long-distance travellers.

Mumbai and its surrounding region dominated the list of the country's busiest stations. Thane was followed by Kalyan, while Mumbai CSMT ranked fourth with 5.16 crore passengers and Sealdah came fifth with 5.13 crore. Panvel was sixth with 4.62 crore, while Dadar also featured among the top 10. Mumbai Central, meanwhile, ranked 16th with around 2.20 crore passengers, reflecting the substantial demand across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

New Delhi railway station was the highest-ranked station in the national capital region, occupying seventh place with 3.96 crore passengers. Tambaram ranked eighth with 3.27 crore, followed by Dadar at ninth with 3.22 crore. MGR Chennai Central completed the top 10 with 3.05 crore passengers. Other major stations in the region also recorded significant footfall, with Hazrat Nizamuddin ranking 24th and Delhi Sarai Rohilla placed 95th.

Also Read: Indonesian Passenger Ship Carrying 240 People Loses Contact In Java Sea

The list also highlights the importance of railway stations serving major cities, religious destinations and tourism centres. KSR Bengaluru ranked 12th, Chennai Egmore 18th and Tirupati 26th, while Bhubaneswar stood at 31st. Among northern stations, Lucknow ranked 25th, Kanpur Central 27th, Varanasi 34th, Ghaziabad 42nd and Prayagraj Junction 51st. Stations such as Gaya, Coimbatore, Mysuru, Ernakulam Junction, Madurai and Mangaluru also featured in the top 100.

Several stations recorded more than one crore passengers during the year. These included Tirupati, Kanpur Central, Visakhapatnam, Gorakhpur, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Bhubaneswar, Anand Vihar Terminal, Bhopal, Varanasi, Kozhikode, Mathura Junction, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Bandra Junction. The figures demonstrate that high passenger volumes are spread across multiple regions rather than being concentrated only in the largest metropolitan centres.

The top 100 list also included major stations such as Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada, Patna Junction, Pune, Surat, Indore, Raipur, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Agra Cantt, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Haridwar, Solapur and Aurangabad. Ernakulam Town ranked 100th with around 50.13 lakh passengers. The data offers a broad picture of India's railway travel patterns, covering suburban hubs, major intercity gateways and stations serving important religious and tourism destinations.

Also Read: India Has No Immediate Plan To Ban Social Media For Under-18s