It was the headquarters of the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway (O&RR) whose first line from Lucknow to Kanpur was built in April 1867.

It is neighbored by another major station, Lucknow Junction under the North-Eastern Railway within the same premises with a different terminal building.

Built at a price of ₹ 70 lakhs, which now values as 2 million Dollars or 14 crore INR In 2021; Lucknow Charbagh was designed by J. H. Horniman.

[verification needed] A major role in its design and planning was carried out by Chaubey Mukta Prasad, a consulting engineer for Ms Lanebrown and Hulett.

[1] The Government Railway Police station at Lucknow Charbagh holds an ISO 9001 certificate.