Golden Temple Mail

Golden Temple Mail
Golden Temple Mail
	Golden Temple Mail train board
Overview
Service type	Mail/Express
Locale	Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi & Punjab
First service	1 September 1928; 96 years ago
Current operator(s)	Western Railways
Route
Termini	Mumbai Central (MMCT); Amritsar Junction (ASR)
Stops	35
Distance travelled	1,893 km (1,176 mi)
Average journey time	29hrs 00mnts
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	12903 / 12904
On-board services
Class(es)	AC 1st Class, AC 2 tier, AC 3 tier, Sleeper class, General Unreserved;
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	Yes
Catering facilities	Available
Observation facilities	Large windows
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks
Technical
Rolling stock	LHB coaches
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed	65 km/h (40 mph) average including halts
Route map
Route map

The 12903 / 12904 Golden Temple SF Mail is a Daily Superfast Mail train operated by the Indian Railways that runs daily between Mumbai Central (MMCT) in Maharashtra and Amritsar Junction (ASR) in Punjab. It is the fastest train from Mumbai to Amritsar on daily basis. It is named after the Golden Temple at Amritsar. The train has been operating with modern LHB coaches since 29 September 2020. Before the Partition of India, it would ferry passengers arriving by Steamer from Europe directly from the Ballard Pier in Bombay to the city of Peshawar on India's North-West Frontier.^[1] The train ran as the Frontier Mail between 1928 and 1996.

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

History

With the opening of the Indian Midland Railway's broad-gauge line between Itarsi and Tundla on 1 March 1889, the first through communication on the broad gauge between Bombay and Delhi was established. At the outset, 2 through carriages from Bombay were attached to the East Indian Railway's 1 Up Howrah–Kalka Mail 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 and the North Western State Railway started a new through service between Bombay and Lahore, going through Agra, Mathura, Delhi, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Kasur and Raiwind. The new service, christened The Punjab Mail, commenced operations from 15 March 1905, covering the distance of 2,560 kilometres (1,590 mi) in 50 hours.

From 1911, the Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian railway (BB&CIR) started operating a through train between Bombay and Peshawar, running through Surat, Baroda, Ratlam, Kota, Mathura, Delhi, Saharanpur, Ambala and Amritsar, known as the Northern Express, covering 2,487 kilometres (1,545 mi) in 48 hours. In response, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway extended the Punjab Mail to run through to Peshawar. However, owing to the lack of line capacity, both the Punjab Mail and the Northern Express ran together clubbed as a single train between Lahore and Peshawar via Narowal, Sialkot, Rawalpindi route untill Lahore-Gujranwala-Rawalpindi line came up in 1920s era.

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 Northern Express train between Lahore and Peshawar.

From 1 April 1934, the Northern Express, 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 Ferozepur and was renamed Punjab Mail. Vice versa was done with the Punjab Mail, which hitherto had been running through Ferozepur between Delhi and Lahore, was diverted to run via Saharanpur, Ambala, Amritsar and was renamed Frontier Mail.

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 for the period between 1947 to 1948. Shortly after the partition and nationalization of Railways, the service was extended to Dera Baba Nanak near Amritsar on the India–Pakistan border. The train still runs on this route to this day but uptill Amritsar only.

The train made its inaugural run from Colaba Terminus station on 1st September 1911, as the Northern Express. It carried this name until September 1934 when it was renamed Frontier Mail & was renamed Golden Temple Mail on 1996. Prior to the Partition of India, it would run up to Peshawar on India's frontier with Afghanistan from which it derived its name. The then agent (now known as General Manager) of BB&CI Railway, Sir Ernest Jackson, believed that this train would compete well with the rival GIP Railway's Punjab Limited. Indeed, the Frontier Mail with its shorter route, reduced travel time to just seventy-two hours. During the autumn months between September and December, the train would depart from the Ballard Pier Mole station, on the Bombay Port Trust line. This was for the convenience of the British who arrived in India by steamer. Upon its arrival in Bombay, The BB&CIR Headquarter building outside the Churchgate station would be floodlit to announce a safe arrival.

The train was popular for its punctuality. It was believed that one's Rolex could let them down, but the Frontier Mail couldn't. Infact, when in August 1929, the train arrived 15 minutes, the driver was asked to reason out the cause for the delay.^[2]

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, acted in the film Miss Frontier Mail. The Frontier Mail was the first air conditioned train in the Indian Peninsula. It received an air-conditioned compartment in 1934. Radio facility was provided for the first time on the Golden Temple Mail.

Coaches

The 12903/04 Golden Temple Mail has one AC First Tier, three AC 2 tier, six AC 3 tier, six Sleeper class, two General unreserved coaches, one General cum baggage coaches. It also has one Railway Mail service coach, one Pantry car & one 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 29 hours 00 minutes as 12903 Golden Temple Mail averaging 65.28 km/h and 29 hours 15 minutes as 12904 Golden Temple Mail averaging 64.72 km/h.

1955 Crash

The train operating the service collided with another train in 1955, killing one and injuring 34.^[3]

Traction

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

Route & 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, Muzaffarnagar,Saharanpur Junction, Ambala Cantonment Junction, Ludhiana Junction, Phagwara, Jalandhar City Junction, Beas Junction to Amritsar Junction

Gallery

The Frontier Mail departing Ballard Pier Mole Station (c. 1930s)
Vadodra based WAP-7 locomotive for Golden Temple Mail.
Sleeper Non-AC LHB coaches of Golden Temple Mail.
AC 3 tier LHB coach of Golden Temple Mail.
AC 2 tier LHB coach of Golden Temple Mail.
12903 Golden Temple Mail Blue ICF coach HA1
12903 Golden Temple Mail Blue ICF coaches
Golden Temple Mail – Blue ICF AC 3 tier coach
Red ICF Mail coach of Golden Temple Mail

References

^ "By". www.irfca.org. Archived from the original on 24 June 2002.
^ Shankar, S. "Classic Trains of India- Frontier Mail". irfca.org. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
^ https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/55981/1/lsd_01_09_22-03-1955.pdf Page no. 50

External links

The History of this train at IRFCA
A PDF document on the history of Frontier Mail
A description of journeys on the Frontier mail by Norma Probert, the daughter of Percival Middlecoat, the senior locopilot of the train during its early years.
Golden Temple Mail Train Arrival, Departure times, and other general
[1] Information on the 1955 accident of Frontier mail (pg.50)
Golden Temple Mail Route Map
[2]

[1] "By". www.irfca.org. Archived from the original on 24 June 2002.

[2] Shankar, S. "Classic Trains of India- Frontier Mail". irfca.org. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2025.

[3] ttps://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/55981/1/lsd_01_09_22-03-1955.pdf Page no. 50

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Railways in Northern India
National network/ trunk lines	Howrah–Delhi main line New Delhi–Chennai main line New Delhi–Mumbai main line Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line Delhi–Jaipur line Jaipur–Ahmedabad line
Branch lines/ sections	Agra–Bhopal section Ahmedabad–Udaipur line Allahabad–Mau–Gorakhpur main line Ambala–Attari line Amritsar–Khem Karan line Amritsar–Pathankot line Aunrihar–Jaunpur line Barauni–Gorakhpur line Barauni–Gorakhpur, Raxaul and Jainagar lines Bathinda–Rewari line Bathinda–Rajpura line Bikaner–Rewari line Bhanupli–Leh line Chandigarh–Sahnewal line Delhi–Fazilka line Delhi–Kalka line Delhi–Meerut–Saharanpur line Delhi–Moradabad line Jalandhar–Firozpur line Jalandhar–Jammu line Jammu–Baramulla line Jodhpur–Bathinda line Jodhpur–Jaisalmer line Kanpur–Delhi section Laksar–Dehradun line Lucknow–Gorakhpur line Lucknow–Moradabad line Ludhiana–Fazilka line Ludhiana–Jakhal line Marwar Junction–Munabao line Mathura–Vadodara section Mau–Ghazipur–Dildarnagar main line Merta Road–Rewari line Moradabad–Ambala line Mughalsarai–Kanpur section Rewari–Rohtak line Shri Ganganagar–Sadulpur line Suratgarh–Bathinda line Varanasi–Chhapra line Varanasi–Lucknow main line Varanasi–Rae Bareli–Lucknow line Varanasi–Sultanpur–Lucknow line
Urban and suburban rail transport	Delhi Suburban Railway Delhi Metro (Blue Green Grey Magenta Orange Pink Red Violet Yellow) Rapid Metro Gurgaon Lucknow–Kanpur Suburban Railway Barabanki–Lucknow Suburban Railway Delhi–Meerut RRTS
Heritage railways	Kalka–Shimla Railway
Monorails	Patiala State Monorail Trainways
Defunct lines	Jammu–Sialkot line
Manufacturing units and workshops	Banaras Locomotive Works Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli
Railway companies	Northern Railway North Eastern Railway North Central Railway North Western Railway East Indian Railway Company Kangra Valley Railway Rajputana–Malwa Railway Tirhut Railway Oudh and Tirhut Railway Indian Branch Railway Company Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway Cawnpore–Burhwal Railway Cawnpore–Barabanki Railway Lucknow–Bareilly Railway Bengal and North Western Railway Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway Mashrak–Thawe Extension Railway Lucknow–Sitapur–Seramow Provincial State Railway Bareilly–Pilibheet Provincial State Railway Segowlie–Raxaul Railway Delhi Metro Rail Corporation National Capital Region Transport Corporation
See also	Indian Railways Bholu (mascot) 1974 railway strike in India Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor