Mumbai: The train that ran between Bombay and Peshawar completes 109 years on June 1. We are talking about Punjab Mail, the oldest train in Indian Railways, which steps into the 110th year today. Though passenger train services were suspended during the Covid-19 lockdown from March 22, 2020, gradually the services were reintroduced as special trains after unlocking from May 2020.
Punjab Mail special began its journey with LHB coaches from December 1, 2020 to ensure more safety and pleasant travelling experience to the passengers. Currently, the Punjab Mail takes 34 hours and 15 minutes to cover the 1930 kms between Mumbai and Firozpur Cantonment. The restaurant car has been replaced by a pantry car. Presently, Punjab Mail Special has one AC First Class cum AC2 Tier, Two AC2 Tier, Six AC3 Tier, 6 Sleeper Class, one pantry car, 5 general second class coaches and one generator van.
The origins of the Bombay to Peshawar Punjab Mail are rather unclear. “Based on a Cost Estimate paper circa 1911 and a complaint by an irate passenger circa October 12, 1912 about the 'late arrival of the train by a few minutes at Delhi', it has been more or less inferred that the Punjab Mail made her maiden run out of Ballard Pier Mole station on June 1, 1912,” remembers a railway official.
Punjab Mail is over 16 years older than the more glamorous Frontier Mail. Ballard Pier Mole station was actually a hub for GIPR services. The Punjab Mail, or Punjab Limited as she was then called, finally steamed out on 1 June 1912.
The steamer voyage between Southampton and Bombay lasted 13 days. As the British officials held combined tickets both for their voyage to Bombay, as well as their inland journey by train to their place of posting, they would, after disembarking, simply board one of the trains bound for Madras, Calcutta or Delhi. “The Punjab Limited used to run on fixed mail days from Bombay's Ballard Pier Mole station all the way to Peshawar, via the GIP route covering a distance of 2496 kms in about 47 hrs,” said Shivaji Sutar, Chief PRO, Central Railway.
During the pre-partition period, the Punjab Limited was the fastest train in British India. The Punjab Limited's route ran over GIP track for the large part, and passed through Itarsi, Agra, Delhi and Lahore, before terminating at Peshawar Cantonment. The train started originating and terminating at Bombay VT (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai) from 1914. The train then loosely came to be known as the Punjab Mail, rather than Punjab Limited, and became a daily service.
In 1914, the GIP route from Bombay to Delhi was some 1,541 km. which the train used to cover in 29 hours, 30 min. In the early 1920s, this transit time was further reduced to 27 hours, 10 min, despite as many as eighteen intermediate stops. In 2011, the Punjab Mail had as many as 55 intermediate stops.
