On history track: Punjab Mail chugs into 100th year

Once the preferred service for British officials disembarking at Mumbai and travelling upcountry the Punjab Mail entered its 100th year this month It is the first train to achieve this distinction on Indian Railways broad gauge network and still connects west and north IndiaThough the exact date of start of the Punjab Mail running between the then Bombay and Peshawar in todays Pakistan is unclear Central Railway has calculated its birth date based on an old document and a passenger complaint about the train arriving a few minutes late From a cost estimate paper of 1911 and a complaint by an irate passenger dated Oct 12 1912 about the late arrival of the train by a few minutes at Delhi station we have more or less inferred that the Punjab Mail or Punjab Limited as she was then called made her inaugural run from Ballard Pier Mole Station on June 1 1912 a Central Railway official told IANS This makes the Punjab Mail 16 years senior to its more glamorous sister the Frontier Mail running on the Western Railway network Although there are other trains which have completed 100 or more years of service on some metre or narrow gauge sections the Punjab Mail record on the broad gauge is based on available historical material the officials said The 24coach train a mix of airconditioned and ordinary sleepers traverses the entire 1930 km distance between Mumbai and its terminus Ferozepur city in Punjab near the Pakistan border in 34 hours Its regular passengers have remained loyal and appreciative I have always found the journey by Punjab Mail fast efficient as far as timings are concerned and good service in terms of lodging and boarding en route said businessman JS Kahaan 60 who has frequently travelled on the train between Punjab and Mumbai The train used to be popular with the British officers along with their families who usually disembarked at Bombay after a twoweek steamer voyage from Southampton Since they held tickets combining the sea journey with an inland train journey on the subcontinent to various destinations the officers and their families hopped on to one of the trains taking them to places like Delhi the then Calcutta or the then Madras the official said Running on some fixed days of the week to carry mail and postal articles Punjab Limited was the fastest train in Britishruled India for those travelling to northern India It traversed the picturesque 2496 kmlong Great Indian Peninsular Railways route dotted with hills mountains deserts rivers and forests from Bombay to Peshawar in about 47 hrs or almost two full days Major stops en route were Itarsi in presentday Madhya Pradesh Agra Delhi and Amritsar as well as Lahore in presentday Pakistan before it terminated at Peshawar Cantonment The train was made up of six cars three for the passengers with a total carrying capacity of 96 and three for postal goods and mail The sparkling clean cars were all corridor cars and made up of first class dual berth compartments the official said All the cars had shining clean toilets bathrooms a restaurant car and a compartment for luggage and the servants of the British officers In 1914 the trains originating and terminating point moved from the Ballard Pier in south Mumbais Colaba to Victoria Terminus now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus It also became a daily service Over the next two decades the train which catered primarily to the upper class British travellers also came to be patronised by Indians By the mid1930s the Punjab Mail started offering third class cars As the trains popularity soared so did its speed Barely a decade after it was launched its transit time was reduced from 47 hours with 55 halts to 27 hours 10 minutes with 18 halts It was in 1945 just a couple of years before India got independence that the Punjab Mail got its first airconditioned car The train has come a long way from the days it was powered by electric engines and steam engines and later diesel engines at different parts of its route Now it is fully electrified