The country's first super-fast train, the Deccan Queen Express, completed 85 years of service yesterday and a birthday bash befitting royalty was thrown for it.

Platform number 1 at the Pune railway station, from where the train has been departing to Mumbai for over eight decades now, was decked with fresh flowers and balloons to mark the momentous day. Hundreds of loyal commuters joined in the birthday celebrations and former President Pratibha Patil and her husband Devisingh Shekhawat were invited to grace the occasion as chief guests.