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Punjab Mail, fastest train of British-era completes 111 years of service
The Punjab Mail, originally called ‘Punjab Limited’, made her maiden run out of Ballard Pier Mole station, which no longer exists, in Mumbai for Peshawar in the present-day Pakistan, on June 1, 1912, according to a CR release.
The Punjab Mail, the fastest train in India during the British-era which now runs between Mumbai and Ferozepur Cantonment in Punjab, completed 111 years of operations on Wednesday, transforming from three passenger-carrying cars to more than 20 coaches over the years and becoming a prominent train of the Central Railway.
Another prestigious train of the Central Railway, the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen, will enter the 94th year of operations on June 1. The Punjab Mail, originally called ‘Punjab Limited’, made her maiden run out of Ballard Pier Mole station, which no longer exists, in Mumbai for Peshawar in the present-day Pakistan, on June 1, 1912, according to a CR release.
“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 1st June 1912. To begin with, there were the P&O steamers bringing in the mail, and the officers of the Raj, along with their wives, on their first posting in colonial India,” said the release. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway.
The Punjab Limited used to run on fixed mail days from Ballard Pier Mole station all the way to Peshawar via the GIP route, covering a distance of 2,496 km in about 47 hours. The train comprised six cars -- three for passengers and three for postal goods and mail.
“The three passenger-carrying cars had a capacity of just 96 passengers,” the release stated.
During the pre-Partition period, the Punjab Limited was the fastest train in British India. Its route ran over GIP track for the large part and passed through Itarsi (in Madhya Pradesh), Agra, Delhi and Lahore before terminating at Peshawar Cantonment, it said.
The train started originating and terminating at Bombay VT (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus or Mumbai CSMT) from 1914. The train then loosely came to be known as the Punjab Mail, rather than Punjab Limited, and became a daily service, said the release.
Third class coaches started appearing on the Punjab Mail by the mid-1930s, while it got an air-conditioned car in 1945.
The electric hauled train currently takes 32.36 hours to cover the 1,930 km distance between Mumbai and Ferozepur Cantonment with 52 intermediate stops. The Punjab Mail has one AC First Class-cum AC-2 Tier coach, two AC-2 compartments, six AC-3 Tier, 6 sleeper class, one pantry car, five general second class coaches and one generator van.
