This Bizarre Indian Railway Station Is Split Right Down The Middle Between Two States

Imagine sitting on a bench at a train station, resting your left arm in one Indian state and your right arm in another. That isn’t a hypothetical setup- it is a daily reality at Navapur Railway Station, a small, unassuming transit hub that sits directly on the border dividing Gujarat and Maharashtra. Divided straight down the platform by a bright white line, Navapur is widely considered India’s most geographically bizarre railway stop.

A Tale Of Two States On One Platform

At first glance, Navapur looks like any other regional station along the Western Railway line. But walk onto Platform 1 and the administrative quirks instantly stand out.

Positioned directly over the border line, the bench is painted in two different colors- green on the Maharashtra

side and orange on the Gujarat side- allowing passengers to sit in two different states simultaneously.

The Station Master’s office, the railway police booth and the station’s catering stalls fall under the jurisdiction of Maharashtra while the ticket booking counter sits entirely inside Gujarat. To accommodate passengers from both sides of the border, all public train announcements are broadcast in four languages: Hindi, English, Gujarati and Marathi.

How Did a Station Get Cut in Half?

The strange setup isn’t the result of modern architectural design but a byproduct of political history. When the Udhna–Jalgaon railway line was laid during British rule, the entire region belonged to the unified Bombay Presidency. Navapur was simply a rural stop serving the local tribal and trade belts.

However, on May 1, 1960, the Bombay State was bifurcated along linguistic lines to create two independent states: Gujarat and Maharashtra. When surveyors plotted the official border through the town of Navapur, the line ran directly through the center of the town’s railway infrastructure. Rather than shifting the station or reassigning the land, authorities decided to leave the border right where it fell- cutting the 800-meter platform directly in two.