Punjab Mail completes 107 years

Festive click: Passengers commemorate the Punjab Mail on its 107th birthday, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus on Saturday.

The Punjab Mail, one of the oldest long-distance trains in the country, completed 107 years on Saturday.

The ’Punjab Limited’, as it was then called, made its first journey on June 1, 1912, from Mumbai, heading for Peshawar, now in Pakistan. A service meant primarily for white ‘sahibs’ initially, it soon started catering to lower classes too.

Third class cars started appearing on the train by the mid-1930s, and an air-conditioned car in 1945. It was known to be the fastest train of British India.

Before Partition, the train ran from Ballard Pier Mole station in Mumbai all the way to Peshawar, covering a distance of 2,496 km in 47 hours, Sunil Udasi, chief public relations officer, Central Railway, said. Now it starts from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and its northward journey ends at Firozpur Cantonment, after covering 1,930 km within 34 hours and 15 minutes.

“The train then comprised six cars: three for passengers and three for postal goods and mail. The three passenger cars had a capacity of only 96,” Mr. Udasi said.

The train had bathrooms, a restaurant car and a compartment for luggage and the servants of British passengers.