The Punjab Mail

The Punjab Mail that runs from Ferozepore to Mumbai has entered its 100th year of service.

Once known as the pride of Punjab, the train was introduced by the British in 1912 between Peshawar and Mumbai.

Although the exact date of the introduction of the train is not clear, records show a complaint (dated October 12, 1912) lodged by an angry passenger regarding its delayed arrival at the Delhi station.

The Punjab Mail, that has acquired the status of a superfast train, is about 16 years older than the Frontier Mail.

It was most favoured by the British officers in the pre-Partition days. It continues to be the favourite train of residents in the Malwa belt travelling to Delhi or Mumbai.

With 24 airconditioned and ordinary coaches, the train covers 1,930 km in 34 hours. This was the fastest train carrying officers from the South to the North during the British regime. Archival documents indicate that it made its inaugural run from Mumbai on June 1, 1912.

Before the Partition, it used to traverse 2,496 km in 47 hours between Peshawar and Bombay (now Mumbai).

According to the records of the Central Railway, in 1914 the train (from Bombay to Delhi) covered 1,541 km in 29 hours and 30 minutes.

In the early 1920s, this transit time was reduced to 27 hours 10 minutes, despite as many as 18 intermediate stops.

In 1972, the trainsit time was pushed up to 29 hours. Today, the Punjab Mail has as many as 37 intermediate stops. The cost of running the train from Bombay to Punjab, according to 1911 estimates, was to be shared equally by the GIP Railway and the North Western Railway.

The document states that the cost of the “eight-car train” was then an astronomical Rs 89.40 lakh.

This included the design and construction of the cars from the Burma teak at the Matunga Workshop.