Punjab Mail, India's Oldest Railway Service Completes 109 Years

Punjab Mail, India's oldest running passenger train, has completed 109 years and will enter its 110th year tomorrow. Though passenger train services were suspended from March 22, 2020 to May 1, 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown, they were gradually resumed as special trains when the lockdown was lifted. The Punjab Mail Special, on the other hand, began its journey with LHB coaches on December 1 last year.

The Bombay to Peshawar Punjab Mail's origins are a mystery. The Punjab Mail had her inaugural run out of Ballard Pier Mole station on 1 June 1912, according to a Cost Estimate report from 1911 and a complaint from an upset passenger from October 12, 1912 about the 'late arrival of the train by a few minutes in Delhi.'

Punjab Mail predates the more glamorous Frontier Mail by more than 16 years. Ballard Pier Mole station served as a GIPR service centre. On June 1, 1912, the Punjab Mail, or Punjab Limited as she was then known, finally sailed away. To begin with, there were the P&O steamers bringing in the mail and the Officers of the Raj on their first posting in Colonial India, accompanied with their wives. 

The journey from Southampton to Bombay took thirteen days via steamboat. The British officials would simply disembark and board one of the trains going for Madras, Calcutta, or Delhi, as they had combined tickets for their cruise to Bombay and their inland excursion by railway to their area of posting. 

The Punjab Limited used to run on scheduled mail days over the GIP route from Bombay's Ballard Pier Mole station to Peshawar, covering 2,496 kilometres in 47 hours. The train had six cars: three for passengers and three for mail and postal products. Only 96 persons could fit in the three passenger-carrying cars. The gleaming carriages were all corridor carriages with first-class dual-berth cabins. The carriages were well-appointed with lavatories, baths, a restaurant car, and a compartment for luggage and the white sahibs' staff, as they catered to the upper-class gentry. 

During the pre-partition era, the Punjab Limited was British India's fastest train. For the most part, the Punjab Limited's route followed GIP track, passing through Itarsi, Agra, Delhi, and Lahore before arriving at Peshawar Cantonment. From 1914, the train originated and terminated at Bombay VT (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai). The train was thus dubbed the Punjab Mail rather than the Punjab Limited, and it became a daily service.

The Punjab Mail, which began as a service for upper-class white sahibs, eventually expanded to include the poorer classes. By the mid-1930s, third-class cars had begun to arrive on the Punjab Mail. The GIP route from Bombay to Delhi was 1,541 kilometres long in 1914, and it took the train 29 hours and 30 minutes to complete. 

Despite as many as eighteen intermediate stops, the journey time was cut in half in the early 1920s, to 27 hours and 10 minutes. In 1972, the travelling time was increased to 29 hours. As of 2011, the Punjab Mail has 55 intermediate stops. The Punjab Mail was given an air-conditioned vehicle in 1945. On January 1, 1976, Punjab Mail began using diesel locomotives. (Fully Dieselized)

Once the Thul Ghats were electrified, the train was electric hauled from Bombay VT to Manmad, after which WP class steam engines took over. From Manmad to Firozpur, the train was pulled by WP. In 1968, the train was dieselized all the way to Jhansi, and its capacity was increased from 12 to 15 cars. 

By 1976, dieselization had been expanded from Jhansi to New Delhi, and finally to Firozpur. Two more coaches were appointed at Jhansi, bringing the total number of coaches to 18. In the late 1970s/early 1980s, the WCAM/1 dual current locomotive was used to run the Punjab Mail on electric propulsion up to Bhusaval, with the conversion from DC to AC traction at Igatpuri.

The Punjab Mail travels 1,930 kilometres between Mumbai and Firozpur Cantonment in 34 hours and 15 minutes. Electricity is used to power the train. The restaurant vehicle has been replaced by a pantry car.

Punjab Mail Special presently has one AC First Class coach that is also an AC2 Tier, two AC2 Tiers, six AC3 Tiers, six Sleeper Class cars, one pantry car, five ordinary second class coaches, and one general second class coach. 

Also Read - Illegal Rat-Hole Coal Mining Continues in Meghalaya, 6 Miners from Assam Feared Trapped

Also Watch- Song to Find Assam Tea Tribes Singer who has Gone Missing