In a major policy decision, Ministry of Railways has comprehensively revised categories of various Railway Stations with a view to make it more practical and rational. This comes after the Minister of Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal directed to re-categorize railway stations taking into account earnings, passenger footfall, strategic importance with a view to plan various passenger services and passenger amenities at stations in a more effective and focused manner. It will also help the passenger to have a better experience in relation to travel amenities at stations.

The earlier criteria for station categorisation was based on the annual passenger earnings only. Stations were categorised into 7 categories which A-1, A, B, C, D, E and F. The criteria for categorisation of stations have now been revised to include footfalls at the station. The stations have been further segregated based on the type and clubbed into 3 groups i.e. non-suburban (NS), suburban (S) and Halt (H). Further these groups have been put in grades ranging from NSG1-6, SG1-3 and HG1-3 respectively.

 

In the old criteria the number of stations with high passenger footfalls (handling high number of commuter and MST pass holders etc.) could not be covered into the higher category of station which led to these stations being eligible for lower level of amenities. As per the new criteria the number of footfalls has also been given equal weightage and is taken into account as criteria for categorisation of stations. Therefore, many stations like Kalyan, Panvel, Tambaram, Thane have qualified into the higher category and become eligible for higher level of passenger amenities.

Under this new scheme of categorization of railway stations, the stations have been clubbed into 3 groups namely Non-Suburban, Suburban and Halt. Further, these groups have been put in different grades ranging from 1-6. Accordingly following categories have been formed.

Category of stations	Criteria of Earnings (in Rs.)			Criteria of outward Passengers handled
Non-Suburban
NSG 1	More than 500 Crore			More than 20 Million
NSG 2	100 to 500 Crore			10 to 20 Million
NSG 3	20 to 100 Crore			05 to 10 Million
NSG 4	10 to 20 Crore			02 to 05 Million
NSG 5	01 to 10 Crore			01 to 02 Million
NSG 6	Upto 01 Crore			Upto 01 Million
Total of (I) 5976
Suburban
SG 1		More than 25 Crore			More than 30 Million
SG 2		10 to 25 Crore			10 to 30 Million
SG 3		Upto 10 Crore			Upto 10 Million
Total of (II) 484
Halts
HG 1			More than 50 Lakh			More than 03 lakh
HG 2			05 to 50 lakh			01 to 03 lakh
HG 3			Upto 05 lakh			Upto 01 lakh
Total of (III) 2153
Total Number of stations (I+II+III) 8613

Presently, there are 5976 Non-Suburban Railway Station, 484 Suburban Railway Stations and 2153 Halts, which makes total number of stations as 8613. This categorization of stations has been done for the period 2017-18 to 2022-23.

 

General Managers shall have powers to categorize a station as NSG-4 category if it is a place of Tourist importance and/or is an important junction station.

In addition, Ministry of Railways has given GMs full powers to sanction out of turn safety related works without any limit. The following amenities will be provided at all the stations irrespective of their category for safe performance of journey by passengers:

• Foot over bridge
• High level platform
• Trolley path for movement of wheel chair

 

For improving stations and passenger interfaces: More amenities has been provided to lower category of stations like:

• Waiting halls
• Platform shelters
• Lifts
• Escalators
• Digital charts display
• Illumination
• The train/coach indication board

In view of the new criteria even the small station will get the higher level of amenities which will lead to better passenger satisfaction.

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AKS/MKV

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