When Connaught Place Had Railway Tracks And A Train Once Went Straight Up To Parliament

Last Updated:July 14, 2025, 18:26 is

Nearly a century ago, a rail track was laid to transport sandstone for building Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament House in New Delhi, running through present-day Connaught Place

A goods train once rolled through the heart of the national capital, straight past where Connaught Place now stands, and all the way to the steps of Parliament. No, this isn’t fiction. Nearly a century ago, the railways laid a special track, just to carry sandstone for the construction of Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament House.

Back in 1921, when construction of the iconic government buildings began on Raisina Hill, New Delhi was still taking shape. The New Delhi railway station didn’t even exist yet. Massive red and yellow sandstone blocks were being brought in from Rajasthan, but road transport from Old Delhi was slow and inefficient. So, the British administration turned to the railways.

To speed up delivery, engineers decided to extend a goods rail line from Sadar Bazar directly to Raisina Hill. Trains from Rajasthan were rerouted to Sadar Bazar, and from there, a dedicated line was built, cutting through the area where Connaught Place would later rise, leading straight to the Parliament complex.

According to records from the Ministry of Railways, these trains had no passengers. It carried only cargo, the stones that would build the power centre of modern India.

The trains would offload the heavy stone slabs at the construction site and head back. This operation dramatically reduced the construction time of the Parliament House and Rashtrapati Bhavan. What could have taken a decade was finished in just six years.

The story doesn’t end there. When plans for Connaught Place took shape in the late 1920s, the track suddenly found itself in the way. Construction of Connaught Place began in 1929, and the rail line was dismantled to make room for the city’s new commercial hub.

But traces of the track still survive.

To this day, a short stretch of it runs from New Delhi Railway Station toward the Estate Entry Road, ending just outside the Outer Circle of Connaught Place. If you pass by the CPRO (Chief Public Relations Officer) office of Northern Railway, you can spot the remnants.

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