Officially notified as a new railway zone on 14 April 1952, its origin goes back to 3 March 1859. On 14 April 1952, the Northern Railway zone was created by merging
Jodhpur Railway,
Bikaner Railway,
Eastern Punjab Railway and three divisions of the
East Indian Railway north-west of
Mughalsarai (
Uttar Pradesh). On 3 March 1859,
Allahabad–
Kanpur, the first passenger railway line in North India was opened, which falls under Northern Railway zone. In 1864, a
broad-gauge track from
Calcutta to
Delhi was laid. In 1870, the
Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railway completed the -long –
Ambala–
Jagadhri–– line connecting
Multan (now in Pakistan) with . In 1872,
Delhi Sarai Rohilla railway station was established when the
metre-gauge railway line from Delhi to
Jaipur and
Ajmer was being laid. It was a small station just outside Delhi as Delhi was confined to walled city then. All the metre-gauge trains starting from (and terminating at) Delhi to
Rewari, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat passed through this station. The track from Delhi to Sarai Rohilla was double. The single track from Sarai Rohilla to Rewari was doubled up to Rewari, from where single tracks diverged in five directions. In 1876,
metre-gauge track from Delhi to
Rewari and further to Ajmer was laid in 1873 by
Rajputana State Railway. In 1884, the
Rajputana–Malwa Railway extended the -wide
metre gauge Delhi–Rewari line to Bathinda. The Bathinda–Rewari metre-gauge line was converted to
broad gauge in 1994. On 9 March 1885, the first train ran from
Jodhpur Junction railway station to Luni. The
New Jodhpur Railway was later combined with
Bikaner Railway to form
Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway in 1889. A Railway line was completed between Jodhpur and Bikaner in 1891. Later in 1900, it combined with Jodhpur–Hyderabad Railway (some part of this railway is in Pakistan) leading to connection with Hyderabad of Sindh Province. Later in 1924 Jodhpur and Bikaner Railways worked as independent Railways. After Independence, a part of Jodhpur Railway went to West Pakistan. In 1891, the
Delhi–Panipat–Ambala–Kalka line was opened. In 1905 the line was regauged to -wide narrow gauge. In 1897, the Southern Punjab Railway Co. opened the Delhi–Bhatinda–Samasatta line in 1897. In 1900, the present building of the
Delhi Junction railway station was built with 2 platforms and opened for public in 1903. In 1901–02, the metre gauge Jodhpur–Bikaner line was extended to Bathinda by Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway. It was subsequently converted to broad gauge. In 1904 the Agra–Delhi line was opened. Six railway lines then entered Delhi.
East Indian Railway,
North-Western Railway, and
Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway entered from crossing the
Yamuna river.
Delhi–
Sonipat Junction railway station––– Railway ran northwards from Delhi, and the
Rajputana–Malwa Railway traversed the Delhi district for a short distance in the direction of
Gurgaon and . Delhi Railway Station was built in red stone to give the effect of nearby historic
Red Fort. The station building had six clock towers and tower 4 is still in use as a water tank. The station was remodelled in 1934–35, when its platforms were extended and power signals were introduced. A new entrance from
Kashmere Gate side was created in 1990s and new platforms were added. The platforms were renumbered in September 2011. The numbers that started from Kashmere Gate entrance as 1A and ended at 18 near the main entrance were renumbered starting as 1 from the main entrance and ending at 16 at Kashmere Gate entrance and some platforms were merged to form long platforms to accommodate trains of 24 coaches. The station building was renovated in 2012–13. Delhi earlier handled both broad and meter gauge trains. Since 1994, it is a purely broad-gauge station, metre-gauge traffic having been shifted to
Delhi Sarai Rohilla station. In 1926,
New Delhi railway station opened ahead of the inauguration of the New Delhi as city in 1931.
Agra–Delhi railway track cut through the site earmarked for the hexagonal War Memorial (now called
India Gate) and Kingsway (now called
Rajpath).
East Indian Railway Company shifted the line along the
Yamuna river and opened the new track in 1924. Before the new imperial capital New Delhi was established after 1911, the
Old Delhi railway station served the entire city and the
Agra–Delhi railway line cut through what is today called ''
Lutyens' Delhi and the site earmarked for the hexagonal All-India War Memorial (now India Gate) and Kingsway (now Rajpath). The railway line was shifted along Yamuna river and opened in 1924 to make way for the new capital. Minto (now Shivaji
) and Hardinge (now Tilak'') rail bridges came up for this realigned line. The
East Indian Railway Company, that overlooked railways in the region, sanctioned the construction of a single story building and a single platform between
Ajmeri Gate and
Paharganj in 1926. This was later known as New Delhi Railway station. The government's plans to have the new station built inside the Central Park of
Connaught Place was rejected by the Railways as it found the idea impractical. In 1927–28, New Delhi Capital Works project involving construction of of new lines was completed. The Viceroy and royal retinue entered the city through the new railway station during the inauguration of New Delhi in 1931. New structures were added to the railway station later and the original building served as the parcel office for many years. In 1975–76, the Tundla–Aligarh–Ghaziabad track was electrified. On 1 July 1987,
Ambala railway division was created by transferring 639 km tracks from Delhi Division and 348 km from Firozpur Division, and it became completely operational from 15 August 1988. 62% its are lies Punjab and the rest in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh. It has 141 stations, including
UNESCO World Heritage Kalka Shimla Railway. In 1992–1995, Sabjimandi–Panipat–Karnal sector was electrified. In 1994 December, the Delhi–Rewari railway line had double metre-gauge tracks and one of the tracks was converted to broad gauge as a part of conversion of Ajmer–Delhi line. Within a few years, both the tracks from Sarai Rohilla to Delhi railway station were converted to broad gauge and all metre gauge trains stopped operating from Delhi station. In 1999–2000, Chandigarh–Kalka. foundation stone laid on 25 January 2004. construction commenced in October 2006, and opened on 20 October 2009. The city of
Delhi heavily depends on the Rail transport to cater for the increasing load of passengers to their destinations. The long-distance trains from Delhi used to ply from three stations namely (Old Delhi), and
Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations. These stations lacked the infrastructure facilities to handle such high passenger rush. Also, Delhi is the connecting station for the cities in the Northern states
Punjab,
Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand and
Jammu and Kashmir. With increasing passenger pressure at the existing stations, the requirement of additional major passenger terminals was identified by the Northern Railways. The East-bound trains from Delhi to the states of
Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar,
Orissa,
Jharkhand West Bengal and other
North-eastern states had to cross the bridge over
River Yamuna as all the three stations are located on the other side of the river. Thus, the area of Anand Vihar was selected in the trans-Yamuna region to construct a mega-railway terminal. In 2010–11 Rail Budget,
Panipat–Meerut line 104 km survey was announced and the project implementation was approved in 2017–18 budget with an outlay of 948 crore. In 2013,
Chandigarh–Sahnewal line (also referred to as Ludhiana–Chandigarh rail link) was inaugurated. In 2013, the foundation stone for the shifting of Rohtak–
Makrauli section of Rohtak–Gohana–Panipat line was laid. In May 2013, a tender was awarded to enable free Wi-Fi connectivity at the
New Delhi railway station, at an approximate cost of and service became functional later in the year. By September 2006, the second metre-gauge track from Sarai Rohilla to Rewari was also converted to broad gauge and all metre-gauge trains stopped operating between Rewari and Sarai Rohilla (though the converted track was opened for public use only in October 2007). In 2015 and 2016, work of doubling of Ghaziabad–Meerut–Khatauli (Muzaffarnagar) section of Meerut––Saharanpur tracks was completed. In January 2016, the Ghaziabad–Moradabad line was completely electrified. The Ghaziabad–Meerut–Muzaffarnagar–Saharanpur–Roorkee–Haridwar line is also open to electric trains with effect from March 2016. In 2016, Vivaan Solar, a
Gwalior-based company won the contract to install 2.2 MW of
rooftop solar project at the
Delhi Junction railway station in late 2016. The
solar power project to be set up under
public–private partnership will be executed on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The company will also be responsible for maintenance of the plant for a period of 25 years. In 2016–17 Rail Budget,
Yamunanagar–Chandigarh line re-survey for this 875 crore line was announced at the cost of 25 crore. Delhi–Alwar line will have 19 stations, 9 underground stations from
ISBT Kashmere Gate to
Kherki Daula and 10 elevated stations on 124.5 km route. ==Divisions==