Malkapur station (station code MKU) is on the Central Railway's main Mumbai–Nagpur–Howrah line, one of the busiest broad-gauge corridors in India. Trains in both directions stop here all day; the platform is a slice of small-town Maharashtra — chaiwallahs, porters, schoolchildren commuting to neighbouring towns, the occasional long-distance express thundering through without stopping.
Most travellers see the station only in passing on their way to or from Lonar, but it is worth a few minutes of attention. The colonial-era buildings have been added to and repainted many times, but the basic plan and some of the architectural details remain, and the platform clocks still tick over with the rhythm of the train movements.