Punjab Mail : India’s oldest train completes 106 years
Ferozepur, June 1, 2018: The Punjab Mail, India’s oldest train, which was started with just three passenger bogies, completed 106 today. The history of rail transport dates back to the mid-nineteenth century when the first rail was introduced in 1853 by the British.
Before independence, Punjab Mail used to be one of the fastest trains in the country and it ranks at pat with Deccan Queen, Frontier Mail and Punjab Mail name was given in 1914.
The Punjab Mail so popular for its accurate running time that people used to correct their watches and once there was a complaint of its late running in 1912.
Interestingly, the origins of the Bombay to Peshawar Punjab Mail are unclear. The Central Railways authorities have concluded upon a date 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.
The Punjab Mail used to run on the Great India Penisular route covering 2496 km in about 47 hours. There were fixed mail days from Bombay’s Ballard Pier Mole Station to Peshawar.
The Punjab Mail, which was one of the most prestigious trains, the passenger corridor cars had a capacity of merely 96 people.
The train was meant primarily for the upper class only with a specific compartment for the luggage and servants, but by the mid-1930s, third class cars started appearing on the Punjab Mail.
Presently, the Punjab Mail, which travels between Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Firozpur Cantonment, covers the distance of 1930 kilometres in 34 hours, while in the reverse direction the train 12138 covers the distance from Firozpur Cantonment to Mumbai CST in 33 hours 55 minutes.
