The 12137 / 12138 Punjab Mail is a
Mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sys ...
train of
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...
–
Central Railway zone
Central Railway (abbreviated CR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. It has the distinction of operating the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from M ...
that runs between
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
and
Ferozpur in India. It operates as train number 12137 from Mumbai CST to Ferozpur and as train number 12138 in the reverse direction. It is among the two daily trains that connect Mumbai and Firozpur, the other being the
Firozpur Janata Express.
History
With the opening of the
Indian Midland Railway's broad-gauge line between
Itarsi
Itarsi is a city and municipality in Madhya Pradesh, India in Narmadapuram District. Itarsi is a key hub for agricultural goods and is the biggest railway junction in Madhya Pradesh. Rail services from all 4 major metropolitan cities of India ...
and
Tundla
Tundla is a town and a municipal board in Firozabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Location
Tundla is situated on NH2 which connects it to nearest major city of Agra, 24 km away, 17 km away from District Firozabad ...
on 1 March 1890, the first through communication on the broad gauge between
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
and
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
was established. At the outset, 2 through carriages from
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
were attached to the
East Indian Railway
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Barod ...
's 5 Up Howrah–Kalka Passenger at Tundla. From thereon, the train ran through to Kalka and Lahore with the name ''5 Up Bombay mail''. This pattern of operations continued until the early 1900s.
After the opening of the Agra–Delhi Chord railway in 1905, the
Great Indian Peninsula Railway
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...
and the
North Western State Railway
The North Western State Railway (NWR) was formed in January 1886 from the merger of the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railway, the Indus Valley State Railway, the Punjab Northern State Railway, the eastern section of the Sind–Sagar Railway and the ...
started a new through service between Bombay and Lahore, going through
Agra
Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...
,
Mathura
Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...
,
Ambala
Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-are ...
and
Amritsar. The new service, christened ''The Punjab Mail'', commenced operations from 15 March 1905.
From 1911, the Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian railway (BB&CIR) started operating a through train between Bombay and Peshawar, running through
Baroda
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...
,
Kota,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
and
Bathinda
Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...
, known as the ''Northern Express''. In response, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway extended the Punjab Mail to run through to Peshawar. However, owing to the lack of line capacity, the Punjab Mail and the Northern Express ran together as a single train between
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
and
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
.
Between 1928 and 1930, a flurry of changes took place in the train services between Bombay and Delhi. As a result of these changes, the Punjab Mail's run was terminated at Lahore from 1 March 1930. However, a bogie composite I and II class through carriage to Peshawar was still run on the Punjab Mail, being attached to the North Western Railway's mail train between Lahore and Peshawar.
From 1 April 1934, the Punjab Mail, which hitherto had been running through Ambala and Amritsar between Delhi and Lahore, was diverted to run through the BB&CIR's route through Bathinda and Ferozepore.
During the unrest following the partition of India, the Punjab Mail, along with a host of other trains running to Lahore and beyond, was terminated at Delhi. Shortly after the partition, the service was extended to Ferozepore on the India–Pakistan border. The train still runs on this route to this day.
Myths and misconceptions
Due to the paucity of research material, until recent years, most of the known history of this train was gathered through hearsay and anecdotal evidence. As a result, many sources cite that the Punjab Mail commenced services from 1 June 1912, as the ''Punjab Limited'', operating between
Ballard Pier and
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
. However, this is factually incorrect.
The
Punjab Limited was a postal special train that was started by the GIPR from 27 October 1927, to provide a fast postal service between Bombay, Delhi, Lahore and Peshawar. This was a special train that ran in conjunction with the English mail steamer at Bombay and operated alongside the regular Punjab Mail. This special train competed with the BB&CIR's P&O Express. Due to the success of the BB&CIR's P&O Express, which later became the
Frontier Mail
The 12903 / 12904 Golden Temple Mail is a Mail train belonging to Indian Railways that runs daily between (MMCT) in Maharashtra and (ASR) in Punjab. It is named after the famous Golden Temple at Amritsar. The train is running with modern L ...
, the ''Punjab Limited'' was discontinued after a short period. The Punjab Mail was unrelated to the Punjab Limited.
The Punjab Mail never operated from the Ballard Pier Mole station. On the GIP Railway, only the
Imperial Indian Mail and the Punjab Limited operated from the Ballard Pier station.
Coaches
The 12137/12138 Punjab Mail presently has 1 AC 1st Class cum AC 2 tier coach, 1 AC 2 tier coach, 1 AC 2 cum AC 3 tier coach, 5 AC 3 tier coaches, 10 Sleeper Class coaches, 2 General Unreserved coaches, 1 Military Reserved coach & 1 Pantry car.
As with most train services in India, coach composition may be amended at the discretion of Indian Railways depending on demand.
It also carries a Railway Mail coach thus earning it the title of "Mail" in its name.
Service
The 12137 Punjab Mail covers the distance of 1930 kilometres in 34 hours 00 mins (56.76 km/hr) & in 33 hours 55 mins as 12138 Punjab Mail (56.90 km/hr).
As the average speed of the train is above , as per Indian Railways rules, its fare includes a Superfast surcharge.
Route & Halts
The 12137/12138 Punjab Mail runs from Mumbai CSMT via , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , to Firozpur Cantonment.
Traction
Now it is hauled by a
Ajni
Ajni railway station (station code:- AJNI) is a railway station in vicinity of Nagpur in Maharashtra on Delhi–Chennai line.
It is situated at a distance of about 2.8 km from Nagpur railway station. There are plans to develop it as a ...
-based
WAP-7
The Indian locomotive class WAP-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1999 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), AC Current (A), Passenger traffic ...
(HOG) equipped locomotive from Mumbai CSMT till , handing over to a
Ludhiana
Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...
-based
WDP-4D
The EMD GT46PAC or WDP4 is a passenger-hauling diesel-electric locomotive with AC electric transmission designed by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and built by both GM-EMD and under license by Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) of Varanasi, ...
locomotive for its remainder journey until Firozpur Cantonment, and vice versa.
References
External links
RunningStatus.in Punjab Mail (12137) - UpRunningStatus.in Punjab Mail (12138) - Down
{{Central Railway
Transport in Mumbai
Rail transport in Maharashtra
Rail transport in Madhya Pradesh
Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh
Rail transport in Punjab, India
Rail transport in Rajasthan
Rail transport in Haryana
Rail transport in Delhi
1912 establishments in India
Railway services introduced in 1912
Mail trains in India