Golden Temple Mail
Golden Temple Mail board
Overview
Service typeMail/Express
LocaleMaharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi & Punjab
First service1 September 1928 (1928-09-01)
Current operator(s)Western Railways
Route
TerminiMumbai Central (MMCT)
Amritsar Junction (ASR)
Stops35
Distance travelled1,893 km (1,176 mi)
Average journey time31 hours 40 minutes
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)12903 / 12904
On-board services
Class(es)
  • AC 1st Class, AC 2 tier, AC 3 tier, Sleeper class, General Unreserved
Seating arrangementsYes
Sleeping arrangementsYes
Catering facilitiesAvailable
Observation facilitiesLarge windows
Baggage facilitiesOverhead racks
Technical
Rolling stockLHB coaches
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed59 km/h (37 mph) average including halts
Route map

The 12903 / 12904 Golden Temple Mail is a Mail train belonging to Indian Railways that runs daily between Mumbai Central (MMCT) in Maharashtra and Amritsar Junction (ASR) in Punjab. It is named after the famous Golden Temple at Amritsar. The train is running with modern LHB coaches from 29 September 2020. The train ran as the Frontier Mail between 1928 and 1996, ferrying passengers arriving by Steamer from Europe directly from Ballard Pier in Bombay to the city of Peshawar on India's North-West Frontier before the Partition of India.[1]

It operates as train number 12903 from Mumbai Central to Amritsar Junction and as train number 12904 in the reverse direction.

History

The Golden Temple Mail was until September 1996 known as Frontier Mail. Prior the Partition of India, it would run up to Peshawar on India's frontier with Afghanistan from which it derived its name. During the autumn months between September and December, the train used to depart from the Ballard Pier Mole station. This was for the convenience of the British who arrived in India by steamer. The Frontier Mail also finds a place in romanticised biographies of film actor Prithviraj Kapoor who is believed to have travelled to Bombay from his hometown of Peshawar by the Frontier Mail in 1928 to act in films. Hunterwali, probably India's first action heroine, has acted in the film Miss Frontier Mail. The Frontier Mail was the first air conditioned train in the Indian Peninsula, when it got an air-conditioned compartment in 1934. The radio facility was provided for the first time in the Golden Temple Mail.

Coaches

The 12903/04 Golden Temple Mail has 1 AC First cum AC 2 Tier, 2 AC 2 tier, 5 AC 3 tier, 8 Sleeper class, 2 General unreserved coaches, 2 General cum baggage coaches. It also has 1 Railway Mail service coach, 1 Pantry car & 1 High Capacity Parcel Van.

Service

The Golden Temple Mail runs between Mumbai Central and Amritsar Junction. It is a daily service covering the distance of 1891 km in 32 hours 15 minutes as 12903 Golden Temple Mail averaging 58.64 km/h and 31 hours 55 minutes as 12904 Golden Temple Mail averaging 59.25 km/h.

Accident

The Down Frontier Mail, from Bombay side, with a load of 13 coaches, entered Fateh Singhpura Station on the loop line which was already occupied by No. 1118 up goods train, and collided with it. The two coaches next to the engine of the Frontier Mail remained on the line undamaged, the third, a II class bogie coach, derailed, and the fourth, also a II class bogie coach, telescoped into the former. The fifth coach remained on the line but was slightly damaged, and the remaining 8 coaches remained on the line undamaged. The engines of the two trains and goods wagons are reported to have suffered hardly any damage. One, Shri Shiv Charan Singh, retired Principal of Government College, Rupar, a II class passenger in the third coach, unfortunately died, and thirty-four other passengers holding different classes of tickets received minor injuries.[2]

Traction

It is now regularly hauled by a Vadodara Loco Shed based WAP-7 locomotive from end to end.

Route and halts

The train runs from Mumbai Central via Borivali, Surat, Vadodara Junction, Ratlam Junction, Nagda Junction, Kota Junction, Sawai Madhopur Junction, Gangapur City, Bharatpur Junction, Mathura Junction, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Ghaziabad Junction, Meerut City, Saharanpur Junction, Ambala Cantonment Junction, Ludhiana Junction, Phagwara, Jalandhar City Junction, Beas Junction to Amritsar Junction

Notes

    References

    1. ↑ "By". www.irfca.org. Archived from the original on 24 June 2002.
    2. ↑ https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/55981/1/lsd_01_09_22-03-1955.pdf Page no. 50
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