Mughalsarai railway station is now Deen Dayal Upadhyay station!

In a move that was met with strong criticism by the Opposition, Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government renamed Mughalsarai railway station to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) station on Saturday.

The Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhyay had died while travelling in a train at Mughalsarai station on February 11, 1968.

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The UP government, in August, had sent the proposal to rename the station that was accepted by the Centre.

The Mughalsarai station was constructed in 1862 when the East India Company linked Howrah to Delhi by rail. It is the fourth busiest railway junction in India. The station contains the largest railway marshaling yard in Asia. It is 12.5 km long and handles around 1, 500 wagons daily, in its peak it used to handle at least 5,000 wagons. The station also houses the largest wagon repairing workshop of Railways in India.

Railways seems to be in a name-changing exercise. Some examples:

Elphinstone Road: The Western Railways this year rechristened Elphinstone Road Station in Mumbai to Prabhadevi. The station was earlier named after former Governor of Bombay Presidency Lord Elphinstone.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus:  The name of the famous Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai was recently changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus this year by Central Railways.

Mhow railway station: The Central government in July last year gave its approval to rename Mhow Railway station in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh after Dalit leader B R Ambedkar, who was born in the region.